I have an iPhone (a 3GS, since you asked) and I like it. No, let's be honest, I love it with a passion bordering on the indecent. So when I saw a note on Roll on Friday which said that there was now an iPhone app "which enables users to access the current...
Access to Justice
An anecdotal rant, for which forgive me. Sometimes one needs to vent, but this is hardly an unusual situation. It is 'just' an example of the viciousness of the public funding boundaries. I've combined a few instances in what follows, and changed details for...
Events, dear boy, events…
A couple of bits of news. First, John Healey, the shy and self-effacing Housing Minister, announced his intention to make unlawful sub-letting a criminal offence. That said, the DCLG press release rather jumps the gun by describing the sub-lettings as...
‘There were three people in this mortgage’
Hewett v First Plus Financial Group Plc [2010] EWCA Civ 312 We are a little late on this one, which the family law bloggers have already noted, but it is a bit irresistible. Mrs Hewlett was appealing a possession order obtained by First Plus against her...
‘Minded to’ letters and oral representations
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council v Gibbons [2010] EWCA Civ 327 This was the Court of Appeal judgment on a second appeal from a s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal in the County Court. At issue were the Circuit Judge's findings that Bury had: a) failed to give...
A farewell to the RSL
On 17 March 2010, the 'The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2010', SI 2010 NO. 866 was made. Also enacted on 17 March was The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional and Saving Provisions)...
Permission 2 – given: EU child and Homeless duty
Lekpo-Bozua v Hackney LBC [2010] EWCA Civ 222 [Not on Bailii] Ms L-B had applied to Hackney as homeless. Hackney accepted that she was eligible, homeless, not intentionally homeless and in priority need, because her niece, a child, lived with her. However,...
Permission 1 – refused: date of notice
Elias v Spencer [2010] EWCA Civ 246 [Not on Bailii yet] This was a permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal hearing. The issue was the date given in a s.21 Housing Act 1988 notice on an assured shorthold tenancy. The notice stated that possession was...
I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too! Two*
Thomas-Ashley v Drum Housing Association Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 265 This is probably the biggest single week for dog-related possession claims ever. At this rate, the RSPCA will have to open a housing practice. The brief facts are at para 1 of the Court of...
On the naughty throne
Being constitutionally unable to resist the temptation to indulge in a spot of lèse majesté, Nearly Legal is pleased to be able to threaten Her Majesty with a spell on the naughty step. Not for being a hereditary monarch - that is a little outside our remit...
Probably wrong but wholly academic
Raw, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Lambeth [2010] EWHC 507 (Admin) This case is a vivid illustration of the difficulties of challenging a Local Authority's apparent homelessness gatekeeping practices, or alternatively, if you are a Local...
Underhand but not abusive
Andrew Henley v Shelly Bloom [2010] EWCA Civ 202 This was a second appeal to the Court of Appeal of a first instance decision that Mr Henley's claim for disrepair against his former landlord, Ms Bloom was an abuse of process, the first appeal to a Circuit...