The Hlpa meeting tonight (17/9/08) was a particularly interesting one, on the topic of disrepair. Talks were from Mel Cairns, Andrew Brookes of Anthony Gold and Marina Sergides of Garden Court. Among the end of meeting news items were: The current intent is...
Lack of ownership in shared ownership
[Edit 15/09/08. It now looks like the following judgment is a) being appealed shortly and b) may only have been a County Court judgment, not High Court - this latter point is not clear but reliable sources say County Court] [Edit 18/09/08. In the comments...
Weaver un-appealed?
[Edit 16/09: We now have contrary information, also 'authoritative' in source, also unconfirmed, that the appeal is going ahead. So, until we have further info, your guess is as good as ours.] Thanks to Ethan at 'That Snail..' for passing on unconfirmed news...
Alternative sites – the burden of proof
South Cambridgeshire District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Ors [2008] EWCA Civ 1010 was an appeal of a High Court decision on Judicial Review of the decision of an Inspector in the appeal of a planning decision not...
Unsung heroes?
Under the banner of 'Unsung Heroes', LAPG is inviting nominations for the 6th annual Legal Aid Laywer of the year awards. The categories are Criminal Defence Mental Health Family Legal aid firm/not-for-profit-agency Young Solicitor Barrister Immigration and...
S.190 homeless duties and JR costs
I'd managed to miss this one somehow, so thanks to the Garden Court bulletin of August for mentioning it. R (Dumbaya) v Lewisham LBC [2008] EWHC 1852 (Admin) was the end point of a rather messy sounding set of proceedings. The Claimant had been accommodated...
Choice Based Letting Guidance
The Department for Communities and Local Government has released new guidance for local authorities in regard to the operation of choice based lettings (CBL) schemes. This link is to the PDF of the Guidance. A post with an initial consideration of the...
And the 23rd Claim…
As a tale of vexatious litigants, HM Attorney General v Ford & Anor [2008] EWHC 2066 (Admin) has it all. Mysterious changes of identity, admitted perjury, repeated applications for judicial review of refusals to give permission to appeal, and appeals of...
Pre-emptive possession orders
Secretary of State for the Environment Food & Rural Affairs v Meier & Ors [2008] EWCA Civ 903 was a case concerning travellers encamped on Forestry Commission land. Some of the travellers had previously camped on a nearby patch of Forestry Commission...
Institutionally racist
We are not institutionally racist. SRA October 2007 This is not housing law related, but it is of significance to many in the sector. Lord Ouseley, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, was jointly commissioned by the Solicitors Regulatory...
Nearly Legal 2.0
Having posed some questions about this blog's future a couple of weeks ago, I am delighted to be able to announce the next stage for Nearly Legal. First and most importantly, you will notice case notes, news and opinion pieces by other people appearing from...
ASB corner
The August 2008 Legal Action contains a couple of cases concerning anti-social behaviour possession claims that weren't recorded elsewhere. Ealing LBC v Jama B5/08/0104 was a Court of Appeal matter. Mrs Jama was Ealing's secure tenant of a two bed property....