I'm afraid that this is beyond parody, but couldn't go unremarked. Anyway, it is a quiet time for judgments. Today the National Housing Federation took the view that housing provision in the UK, or England at least, is basically demented, with...
All the blog posts, most recent first
Ain’t no Cicero
This, the second post on the riot related possession proposals (the first is here), looks at an article published on the ConservativeHome website by Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Grant Shapps, and Tory MP for the gritty urban...
Losing localism
Or, more accurately 'locality'. Sorry if that got anyone excited over nothing. As has been widely announced, the DCLG consultation on introducing a mandatory ground for possession on grounds of conviction for a housing related ASB offence etc,...
Starter tenancy: proportionality ‘just about arguable’
West Kent Housing Association v Haycraft [2011] EWCA Civ 992 (Not on Bailii. We've seen a transcript) This was a renewed application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on a second (or perhaps first- see below) appeal from the granting...
Wandsworth: headed for the naughty step?
As is now pretty well known (and as I noted in the comments below this post) Wandsworth Council apparently made a bid to bring the first riot related possession proceedings. There are some things about Wandsworth's behaviour that should be pointed...
Unaccompanied Service Charge demands
Tingdene Holiday Parks Ltd v Cox and others [2011] UKUT 310 (LC) By s.21B, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a demand for the payment of service charges must be "accompanied" by a summary of rights and obligations of tenants in relation to the same....
‘Not otherwise available’
SL v Westminster City Council & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 954 This is a significant judgment by the Court of Appeal on the ambit of s.21(1)(a) National Assistance Act 1948. It addresses the interrelation of 'care and attention' and the provision of...
That’s not the way to do it
Zolotareva v Russia (App. No. 15003/04) With a hat-tip to the Garden Court bulletin, here is a decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the enforcement of an eviction. Ms Zolotareva lived in a municipally owned flat with her son,...
Evicting rioters: a brief note
As a number of Councils and Housing Associations in London, Manchester, Salford and Birmingham say that they intend to evict tenants involved in rioting (and Grant Shapps has jumped in to back them, as has David Cameron), we've been requested to...
Under a bit of pressure…
For the last couple of days - and ongoing - we have been getting vast quantities of comment spam, over 1,000 per day. 99.99% are automatically filtered out by our defences and I mop up the rest. However it has a couple of consequences. I usually...
Not Ashored
Awful title due to NL himself. Mew v Tristmire concerned whether or not two "houseboats" were "dwelling houses let as separate dwellings" as required in section 1 of the Housing Act 1988 in order for them to be assured tenancies. The "houseboats"...
And what kind of chocolate would you like your teapot?
The DCLG has put out a consultation, announced by Grant Shapps (again), on proposals to bring in a mandatory ground for possession for Anti Social Behaviour. The closing date is 27 October 2011. I had a look at Shapps' initial announcement back in...