H & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Ealing London Borough Council [2016] EWHC 841 (Admin) Ealing's allocation policy has already had lawfulness problems, compounded by Ealing's unlawful refusal to do anything about that unlawfulness. But this judicial...
Misc on taxes – council and bedroom
Some notes on council tax liability and bedroom tax Upper Tribunal cases. Council tax - how do you go about setting aside and/or appealing a council tax liability order? It turns out to be far from straightforward (you might already have known this. I...
Deposits, leaflets and company landlords
Bali v Manaquel Company Limited, County Court at Central London (HHJ Hand QC), 15th April 2016 (Unreported elsewhere. We've seen a note of judgment) This was an appeal of a possession order made against Mr Bali at Lambeth County Court. Mr B was the assured...
Private parts.
Macleod, R (on the application of) v The Governors of the Peabody Trust [2016] EWHC 737 (Admin) Ever since R (Weaver) v London and Quadrant Housing Trust [2010] 1 WLR 363 (our report) there has been an ongoing issue as to whether housing associations (or...
AirBnBreach
The Govt seems very keen on Airbnb-style short term letting. First, the planning change in London to permit short term letting for up to 90 days in any year, then Osborne's £1000 tax break for Airbnb style landlords in the March 2016 budget. Of course, the...
Corrections, omissions, blusters
Several notes/rantlets* There will be a new prescribed Section 8 Notice Seeking Possession in force from 6 April 2016. The regulations and new form 3 can be found here. This is a prescribed form, so must be used. A 'where we are now' story on homelessness...
Righting wrong writs. High Court enforcement.
This has been a bit of an epic. First, the problem of High Court Enforcement Officers using form N293A to obtain writs of possession against tenants was raised by us in November 2015, then the scale of that use became clear by January 2016, and there were...
Bannisters that never were.
You wait for 4 years for another case on bannisters and the Defective Premises Act 1972 and then two come along at once... Sternbaum v Dhesi [2016] EWCA Civ 155 Dodd v Raebarn Estates Ltd & Ors [2016] EWHC 262 (QB) Both can be dealt with fairly quickly...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Cocking & Anor v Eacott & Anor [2016] EWCA Civ 140 Neighbour nuisance. These are often difficult and indeed expensive cases. And always there are those affected who believe that a landlord is liable for their tenant's nuisance (which they just...
Of sink holes and strict liability
Lafferty v Newark & Sherwood District Council [2016] EWHC 320 (QB) Does section 4(4) of the Defective Premises Act 1972 create a strict liability on the landlord for any defect, such that it covers latent or undetectable defects? The short answer is no....
Nor any drop to drink
This is potentially huge. There could be millions of pounds at stake and possibly many councils and housing associations affected. It might only mean a pound or so per tenant per week, but definitely 37,000 and potentially 375,000 tenants are involved, over...
Scenes from a disaster
The Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee has begun an enquiry into homelessness. The written submissions from Councils, charities, campaigners, professional organisations and others are a stark illustration of a homeless system that is,...