Brentwood Borough Council v Ball & Ors [2009] EWHC 2433 (QB) This was the hearing of an application for an injunction by Brentwood BC. The defendants were six gypsies who had together purchased a plot of land, called Plot 3, in 2009. This was...
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Lost by translation
Ali v Birmingham City Council [2009] EWCA Civ 1279 (Original note from an Arden Chambers eflash pdf). Mr Ali, who is Somalian, applied as homeless to Birmingham. At interview he was noted as speaking and understanding English. he was given a...
Long on principle, short on detail
S (A Child), R (on the application of) v Plymouth City Council [2009] EWHC 1499 (Admin) Not sure how we missed this one and thanks to the Legal Action housing updates for the elbow to the ribs. This was a permission hearing on an application for...
Allocation without Grant
Birmingham City Council v Qasim and others [2009] EWCA Civ 1080 may come as something as a surprise (at least, it did to me) and has rather a lot to say about the importance of allocation schemes under Pt 6, Housing Act 1996. Birmingham had an...
Unlawful Eviction Quantum – from Legal Action
Hunt v Hussain, Epsom County Court 31 July 2009 (LAG housing law updates October 2009) As ever, the Legal Action housing law updates have some useful cases, this from the October 2009 issue. This is another of the reports on County Court judgments...
Limiting the right to buy (in Scotland)?
The SNP have announced that they intend to abolish the right to buy for all new build council and social housing in Scotland. The policy is intended to safeguard up to 18,000 social homes. Figures in England show a steep decline in interest in the...
Reasonable excuse
Only tangentially relevant to housing law, but R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570 is a decision of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) dealing with the question of burden of proof for a "reasonable excuse" defence when charged with breaching an...
Public funding on appeal
E, R (on the application of) v Governing Body of JFS & Anor [2009] UKSC 1 Our first Supreme Court report and it is a cracker. Not housing law, but legal aid funding is the issue, so those not interested in legal aid issues can look away now......
Penal Notices on Admin Court orders?
MSA v London Borough of Croydon [2009] EWHC 2474 (Admin) A technical point on judicial review cases here, but as it is something I've run up against in the past, I think it is interesting. Collins J considers whether a penal notice should be...
Accidental overpayments not recoverable
Child Poverty Action Group, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2009] EWCA Civ 1058 This is a benefits case rather than housing per se, but it concerns an important point which will affect many. An overpayment of...
1/4 pounder or Royale with Cheese? Zehentner v Austria
(With apologies to vegetarians, vegans, and non-lovers of Tarantino/Pulp Fiction) In Pulp Fiction, John Travolta's character explains to Samuel L Jackson's that it is the "little differences" in Europe that make it interesting - they do things...
A disgraceful situation and an excellent answer
R (A) v Leicester City Council and the London Borough of Hillingdon [2009] EWHC 2351 (Admin) (only on Lawtel) is an attempt to answer the "interesting question" posed by the Court of Appeal in R (Liverpool CC) v LB Hillingdon and AK (interested...