London Borough of Lewisham -v- Litchmore. 2 October 2009, Bromley County Court Since the beginning of replacement tenancies on May 2009, there have, rather surprisingly, not been any reports on cases involving the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 Schedule...
Way too secure
Gauci v Malta [2009] ECHR 1280 [Link is to rtf] Hat-tip to the Garden Court Bulletin for this one. Mr G owned a property in Malta. It had been let under a 25 year tenancy agreement in 1975. On the expiry of that agreement, the tenants, who owed other...
Fixed Fees and CLACs – MOJ plan
The Ministry of Justice has published its 'Implementation Plan' in response to the recommendations of the 'Legal Advice at Local Level' steering group. The plan is here [pdf]. The issue is principally the effects on NFP advice providers of the impact of...
Gordon Brown – the new Gladstone?
As we all know, William Gladstone walked the streets of London, even while Prime Minister (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886 and 1892–94), seeking out fallen women to rescue, whether they wanted to be rescued or not. What Gladstone did when he accosted a prostitute was...
Not so much guidance, more of an exhortation
Back in our post on the 50th update to the CPR, we noted that there was a new requirement from 1 October 2009 for the Claimant in mortgage possession proceedings to notify occupiers of proceedings within 5 days of receiving notification of the date of...
Accommodation pending review: Mohammed in action
R (Gebremarium) v City of Westminster [2009] EWHC 2254 (Admin) Thanks to the Garden Court housing bulletin for pointing to this one. We had to look around as the judgment is not yet available anywhere except casetrack. This was the permission hearing of an...
The lost, confused and angry*
* as one of our commentors put it. As the sumer hiatus grinds on (summer- ha!) and we sit on the beach awaiting the return of the intermittent flood tides of housing cases, I was prompted by M's comment to delve through the rock pools of our search logs for...
Request for info: Powell v Hounslow
We have just heard about a case, Powell v Hounslow, which is apparently due to be heard by the Court of Appeal on 15 November. According to our informant, the issue is whether an Art 8 defence can be made by a non-secure tenant in possession proceedings. We...
Unwelcome in the valleys
While we are in Wales and with thanks to the Garden Court housing bulletin, we report an Ombudsman's decision Complaint against Cardiff CC 200702358 [pdf] Mr Davies and Miss Brown complained about Cardiff Council's failure to deal with noise nuisance and...
Of Car Parks, Caravans and Councillor's commitments
The City & Council of Swansea v Christine Joyce (and others) Cardiff District Registry, Chancery Division 31 March 2009 7CF30099 This is an example of a post Doherty public law defence at first hearing, and one that succeeded where an alternative defence of...
Way beyond the Naughty Step
Some private landlords treat tenants as a nuisance. A sitting tenant can get in the way of a quick deal or reduce the value of a property on which the landlord is hoping to make a quick buck. Thanos Papalexis found himself in this situation when Charalambos...
Not on its behalf…
S, R (on the application of) v A Social Security Commissioner & Ors [2009] EWHC 2221 (Admin) This was an application for Judicial Review of a decision of the Social Security Commissioner refusing leave to appeal a decision of the Social Security Appeal...