In that delightfully wilful way that we housing lawyers have come to know and love*, the Govt chose Friday afternoon 28 August to drop The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies: Protection from Eviction) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 on an...
Possession claims, present and predicted.
A round up of where we are on possession claims, notices, etc. and then what we will need to know for the future. This post is, of course, a hostage to fortune. The present moment stuff is right, but if the Govt goes the high risk route of retrospective...
Suitability, affordability and benefit claims
Tiemo, R (on the application of) v Lambeth London Borough Council (2020) EWHC 1193 (Admin) A interim judicial review decision from May, but judgment just out. The issue was the suitability of temporary accommodation under section 188 Housing Act 1996...
From March to September – possession stay extended.
The stay on possession claims imposed by CPR 55.29 was due to end on Sunday 23 August. In an extraordinary, after the last minute, step, on 20 August 2020 the Lord Chancellor directed the Master of the Rolls and the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to amend...
N5B or not N5B. That is the question.
I have no idea what is going on here, but the accelerated possession proceedings claim form - form N5B - has vanished from the gov.uk website and has been missing since at least 17 August 2020 - at least for England, the one for Wales is still there. You...
Rent arrears and RROs.
Awad v Hooley CHI/21UD/HMG/2020/0003 5 August 2020 (link to PDF) This is a First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) decision on an application for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO), which unusually deals with the issue of the tenant's rent arrears. Ms Awad was the...
Don’t believe the type – N11B Defence form goes wrong
Our grateful thanks to Jo Underwood of Shelter for spotting this. The N11B Defence form to a section 21 possession claim via form N5B - both released April 2020 - doesn't add up. Quite literally. Question 2 of the N11B asks Do you agree the date, in section...
Yet more new CPR – and no eviction without notice coming soon.
In the excitement last Friday about the Rules laid in Parliament introducing PD 55C, I completely overlooked another set of Rules, also laid last Friday. The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2020, in force as of 17 July 2020, makes changes to the CPR...
Reactivation!
After the mystery of the Rules laid last Friday, we now had the text of Practice Direction 55C, which will come into effect on 23 August 2020 at the end of the Part 55.29 stay of possession proceedings. The text can be read here. The key elements are. This...
Mystery directions
In the evening of Friday 17 July, The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 4) (Coronavirus) Rules 2020 appeared, having apparently been laid earlier that day. These will come into force on 23 August 2020. What the Rules do is amend the Civil Procedure Rules to add...
Discrimination and ‘No DSS’
As we have seen before, Shelter have been supporting discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010 against letting agents who operate a 'No DSS' policy (meaning a refusal to even consider people claiming housing related benefits - who are often employed...
Getting late legal advice not a ground for set aside of possession order
Sangha v Amicus Finance Plc (2020) EWHC 1074 (Ch) This was Mr Sangha's appeal of a refusal of his application to set aside a possession order against his property by a lender who had a charge on the property against a bridging loan which was not repaid. The...