One of a couple of cases on intentional homelessness and affordability of accommodation. Noel & Anor v London Borough of Hillingdon (2103) CA (Civ Div) 21 November 2013 [Lawtel note, not on Bailii yet] [Update 11/12/13, now on bailii] N had applied to...
Not home alone.
A quick note on a succesful bedroom tax First Tier Tribunal decision in Islington. Unfortunately there is no statement of reasons [Update 21/01/2014 - Statement of reasons and adviser submissions are here] and the decision notice, which I have seen, says...
A bit too unrestrained
Emery v Wandsworth LBC (2013) QBD 14 November 2013 [not reported elsewhere, note on Westlaw] This was an application by Ms E for permission to apply to discharge a Civil Restraint Order made against her in the High Court. Ms E had made an urgent application...
Get your excuses for your excuses in early
Poorsalehy v Wandsworth LBC (2013) QBD 07/11/2013 {note on Lawtel, not on Bailii yet] A cautionary tale, albeit one that was rather hard on Mr Poorsalehy. Mr P had applied to Wandsworth as homeless. His application was rejected by s.184 decision and the...
I don’t want to go to… Lambeth
Can a refuge be a 'residence of own choice' for the purposes of Local Authority decisions about local connection in homeless applications? This is a rare Court of Appeal decision on the issue. In addition, can a Reg 8(2) 'minded to' letter requirement be...
Outsourcing marketing. How to look ridiculous.
To return to a theme discussed here, 'guest post' search engine optimisation is, at best, a dubious, not to say scummy, way to go about things. I get 4 or 5 'guest post' proposals a day, but today brought a classic of the genre. ghulam@webmasterseye.com To:...
Accept no substitutes
P v Ealing Borough Council (2013) CA Civ Div 05/11/2013 [Not on Bailii yet. Note on Lawtel] This was Ealing's appeal from a s.204 appeal brought by Ms P. At the s.204 appeal, the Circuit Judge had varied Ealing's review decision that Ms P was intentionally...
Of Superglue and Residence
A prosecution under s.144 LASPO that came unstuck* R v D Duputell 31 October 2013 Hove Trial Centre [Newspaper report] This was the retrial of Mr Duputell after his earlier trial on charges of breach of s.144 LASPO together with two other co-defendants...
Demanding Money with Menaces
We all know that the bedroom tax has created huge problems for both tenants, desperately trying and often failing to find the additional 14% or 25% of rent, and for social landlords, watching arrears spiral rapidly upwards. But I don't think there is...
Trust No-one
The DWP issued a bedroom tax related circular on 30 October 2013. HB U7/2013. The full text is below. Removal of the spare room subsidy – First tier Tribunal decisions Background 1. Generally local authorities (LAs) initiate appeals to the Upper Tribunal...
Don’t ignore the Court of Appeal
Or, 'It wasn't me, it was the bailiff'. Choudhury v Garcia [2013] EWHC 3283 (QB) (June 2013) [Not on Bailii. We have transcript] A rather unusual unlawful eviction case, this, involving as it does breaches of Court of Appeal stays of warrant, and High Court...
A rose by any other name…
The First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is a grand title but suffers the fatal flaw of lacking a suitable three letter abbreviation (recursively, a TLA). Unlike LVT, there is no easy way to refer to the new Chamber, at least not without gabbling and/or...