Chapter 1, Part 2, Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 makes provision for "qualifying tenants" of a building to form a company that, in turn, will acquire the right to manage the property from the freeholder. It is largely modeled on the...
All the blog posts, most recent first
A post-Pinnock reading list
What does a potentially successful "proportionality" defence look like? To put the question slightly differently, what are the contours of proportionality in the context of mandatory possession proceedings? This is the question largely left open...
The 2010 HLPA conference
As per previous years, this is the conference for those involved in housing law. Most, probably all, of the NL team will be there. Everyone else should be too. 15 December 2010, at Royal College of Surgeons. Lincolns Inn Fields, London. 6 hours CPD...
Caretakers and the Court of Appeal
Continuing with the (ir)regular residential leasehold update, we have Cadogan v Panagopoulos [2010] EWCA Civ 1259, on appeal from the High Court (our note, here), which was itself an appeal from the county court. I'm not going to set out the...
Tenancy Deposit Protection Eviscerated
Tiensia v Vision Enterprises Ltd (t/a Universal Estates) [2010] EWCA Civ 1224 (11 November 2010) This is the long awaited Court of Appeal decision on tenancy deposit protection. It is a conjoined appeal of Universal Estates v Tiensia and...
Mr Pickles is unlawful and other bits
Cala Homes (South) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government & Anor [2010] EWHC 2866 (Admin) found Eric Pickles, SoS at DCLG, acted unlawfully in scrapping the Regional Strategies for housing development, which also, lest...
A post-Pinnock question
In the early part of this year, there was a rumour of a High Ct case where Art 8 was being employed against a non-public authority landlord. The case was Quadrant Brownswood Tenant Cooperative Limited v White (HC 09 C 03494). Does anyone know what...
HMO Prosecutions Round-Up
Staying with the prosecution theme, LACORS, or (somewhat less snappily) Local Government Regulation as it is now called, has published a round-up of recent HMO related prosecutions. It makes for fairly grim reading. The maximum fine for failure to...
Jail for Unlawful Eviction
According to the website of Oxford City Council a landlord has been jailed for three months for unlawful eviction. Mr Kenston McIntosh received three months after pleading guilty at Oxford Crown Court on 29 October 2010. Undoubtedly the sentence...
No Surrender!
QFS Scaffolding Ltd v Sable & Anor [2010] EWCA Civ 682 For those who can tear themselves away from the Supreme Court we offer this case which we somehow missed from the summer (possibly due to too many holidays!). Mr & Mrs S had let a builder yard...
DDA & DIY
Beedles v Guiness Northern Counties Limited (2010) High Court (Manchester) (QB) HQ10X02893 [Not on Bailii yet]. This is an intriguing case sent to us on the nature and extent of the duty to provide an auxiliary aid or service under S.24C Disability...
Brave New World or Same Old Story
Pinnock v Manchester City Council [2010] UKSC 45 (Supreme Court pdf & BAILII links) Whenever a battle weary group of housing lawyers gets together, conversation inevitably turns (after the routine complaints about the less congenial DJs) to the...