Property Guardians seem to be a growth industry. If you haven't come across these yet, you probably will at some point. The Guardian agency puts people into a vacant commercial or residential building to live as occupiers, effectively providing...
All the blog posts, most recent first
Deja Vu All Over Again (and again)
In Samin v Westminster CC [2012] EWCA Civ 1468 [not on bailii yet - lawtel has a transcript], the Court of Appeal had to decide what was meant by someone being "temporarily unable to work" so as to determine if Mr Samin retained his status as a...
JR, the rule of law, and administrative justice
According to Cameron, there is a need to restrict the right to judicial review to ensure the country's economic competitiveness. As he put it, judicial review should, therefore, cost more, have shorter deadlines, and fewer rights of appeal. This...
A cautionary tale
In R(Hamid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWHC 3070 (Admin) [not on Baili yet, but apparently on Lawtel], the Divisional Court signalled its intention to get much tougher on out of hours administrative court applications to...
Express/Constructive trusts: Oh dearie me!
Maybe I've been doing this job too long but there are some things which just seem so obvious to me. I know that the common intention constructive trust is really interesting - empirically as well as in law - but you can't just jump straight in. ...
Suitability: Of time and distance
With perfect timing, a County Court section 204 appeal judgment reaches us, on the issue of suitability of temporary accommodation. With the context of out of borough placements and the post Localism Act situation, this seemed worth considering and...
‘Homeless Legislation – a thing of the past?’
[Update at the end of the post 15/11/2012] Now that the Guardian has the story, I feel able to quote a briefing paper by Andy Gale of the DCLG that had found its way to me. This is the briefing that Andy Gale has been giving to Council officers...
Estoppel and unconscionability
In Joyce v Epsom & Ewell BC [2012] EWCA Civ 1398, the Court of Appeal were faced with a not dissimilar case to the classic Crabb v Arun DC [1976] 1 Ch 179, at least in so far as it was a claim to an easement against a local authority by way of...
Deja Vu All Over Again
Konodyba v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2012] EWCA Civ 982 This was an appeal against a decision that a homelessness applicant was not eligible for assistance. It’s been on my blogging to-do list since July, for which I can only...
The Article 8 Toys Go Back in the Box
Thurrock Borough Council v West [2012] EWCA Civ 1435 The Court of Appeal has handed down judgement in a case that will probably come to characterise the operation of Article 8 in the daily life of the County Courts. Facts W's grandparents (or great...
Costs and s.204 Appeals
None of us I think can be blamed for presuming that in statutory homelessness appeals, costs ought to follow the event. It seems, though, that not all judges view appeals in this way and the Court of Appeal will shortly be looking at this issue in...
Homelessness post Localism Act – Statutory Guidance
The DCLG has released statutory guidance on: the changes that the Localism Act 2011 makes to the homelessness legislation. It also provides guidance on the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012. This supplements parts of...