The House of Lords opinions in Hanoman (FC) (Respondent) v London Borough of Southwark (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 29 were handed down today. This was Southwark's appeal of a Court of Appeal judgment we noted here. Briefly, Mr Hanoman was a Southwark...
All the blog posts, most recent first
Keep the noise down
R (McGarrett) v Kingston Crown Court (Divisional Court, 8.6.09) This case appeared as a note on Lawtel this morning and there is no transcript available yet. Mr McGarrett was a tenant of the local authority. He had a PPO on grounds of nuisance...
Equality Bill – request for help
As we noted here, the Government's new Equality Bill brings together various bits of anti-discrimination legislation and extends some of them. One area that is extended is protection against age discrimination, which is now covered by Part 3, in...
Now we are three
It seems like it was just yesterday it started, albeit with a very long and restless night in between, but Nearly Legal is now three years old, which in internet terms is late middle age to bus pass territory. But, if I wondered how the time was...
Tenancy deposit alert
Mydeposits.co.uk, which is one of the approved TDS schemes, has issued a press release warning about mytenancydeposits.co.uk, whose site purports to be that of an approved TDS custodial scheme. It isn't. Any landlord whose deposit is with...
New housing minister!
We now have a new housing minister, Margaret Beckett, having returned to the backbenches and her predecessor, Caroline Flint (she of the transparent brief about home ownership crisis), also resigned but with rather more to say about the treatment...
Intermittently exposed
Now, this is a bit of an oddity. Mohammadi v Shellpoint Trustees Ltd & Anor [2009] EWHC 1098 (Ch) was an appeal from the Supreme Court Costs Office. It concerned when a person should have the protection from liability for costs under s.17 Legal Aid...
Proposed separation of fact and law…
The DCLG have issued a consultation paper on 'dispute resolution' under the (to be) amended Mobile Homes Act 1983 (which will also have effect for Travellers) The consultation paper can be downloaded from us [PDF]. How to respond is at the back of...
The times, they are a'changin
Yesterday, the Lands Tribunal - so beloved of those of us who practice in the field of leasehold property law - ceased to be. It has been replaced by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) which, confusingly, is known as... the Lands Tribunal. There is...
Article 6, outsourced reviews and bias.
The outsourcing of s.202 Housing Act 1996 reviews by local authorities to private, commercial bodies came under scrutiny in Charlotte Augustin v London Borough of Barnet, Central London County Court, 22 May 2009 (no report available online yet)....
"Something of a mess"
We first noted Defence Estates v L and another [2009] EWHC 1049 (Admin) a few weeks ago and now the transcript is available. The history L was married to an army officer. He was a violent alcoholic who abused both his wife and their daughters. In...
Not interesting enough
McKenzie, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Waltham Forest [2009] EWHC 1097 (Admin) was a Judicial Review initially brought on grounds that the local authority refused to provide the claimant with temporary accommodation following her...