I am quite late covering this, but on 28 April 2020, the Welsh Government issued new statutory guidance on homelessness (Part 2, Housing (Wales) Act 2014) and coronavirus. It is excellent. Not just because it is statutory guidance (cf the seemingly endless...
Article 1, Protocol No.1 – a brief introduction
We’ve had quite a few new visitors to this blog over the last few hours and quite a lot of questions about A1/P1 and how it works in the context of a general abolition of residential rents. So here is our quick guide. What does it say? Art.1, Protocol No.1,...
A five point plan
I suspect I’m going to regret this, but there is so much flawed analysis and (wilful) misunderstanding around the policies announced by Labour to deal with the housing and Coronvirus crisis, that I think I should write something. In the spirit of full...
Emergency Practice Directions for the FTT and UT
The Senior President of Tribunals has published two practice directions (19.3.20). They apply to all Chambers of the FTT and UT ('tho readers of this blog are most likely to be familier with the FTT(PC) and UT(LC)). They are here and here. They have an...
District Heating and quantification of benefits
Strezovski and others v North Macedonia (App. Nos. 14460/16 and others) might not seem immediately relevant to readers. After all, housing law in North Macedonia is, I think we can safely say, quite different to England or Wales. But district heating systems...
Regulating Risk
Inclusion Housing Community Interest Company v Regulator of Social Housing [2020] EWHC 346 (Admin) I think this is the first judicial review of a regulatory decision by the Regulator of Social Housing and whilst, ultimately, the result is a fairly standard...
Residential Leasehold: The Competition and Markets Authority speaks
There are some major problems in the residential leasehold property market. They range from the simply inexcusable (e.g. the doubling ground rents that continue for the whole term of the lease), to the unintended legislative loophole (e.g. the long lease as...
A very short consultation
The UT(LC) is consulting on a new Practice Direction for appeals and cases in the UT. The draft appears to have gone online on 20 January 2020 and the deadline is 31 January 2020. You can find it here. If you have a few moments then it's very much worth...
Gypsies and Travellers – time for a rethink
Bromley LBC v Persons Unknown (Liberty, London Gypsies and Travellers, and numerous local authorities, intervening) (2020) EWCA Civ 12 Over the last few years, there has been a real growth in "all borough" injunctions against anticipated trespass by gypsies...
I wanna be your dog
I was listening to the Stooges this morning, drinking my tea and wondering if I could postpone those DIY tasks for just a little bit longer, when a Twitter post from Robert Jenrick MP (Sec of State for Housing) popped into view. The Minister proudly...
Manifesto mayhem
I cannot summon any enthusiasm for this election. It mostly makes me wish I lived in Scotland. But, despite this, I have forced myself to read the three main manifestos so I can summarise them for you all. Conservatives: To call this underwhelming is to give...
Flexible tenancies: the High Court will decide
We have noted before the problem with how you terminate a flexible tenancy (see here) and the arguments about how the law of forfeiture applies. Despite there being several thousand of these tenancies in England, the forfeiture problem has yet to receive...