A couple of bits of news. In April 2015, Hackney Council brought in a Public Spaces Protection Order (under Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014) which, amongst other things criminalised rough sleeping in some parts of the borough....
All the blog posts, most recent first
Grants and service charges
This is a very short note (come on its a Friday afternoon) on the recent Upper Tribunal case Oliver v Sheffield City Council [2015] UKUT 229 (LC), 21 May 2015. This was a case concerning a dispute about the payment of a service charge that arose...
If You Can’t Stand the Heat
I have been holding off writing this post as I was hoping for the Government to provide more clarification. Despairing of this I have been forced to trawl through the murky world of EU Directives…. The Heat Network (Metering and Billing)...
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here
We were pretty scathing about the Conservative manifesto plans before the election and, yesterday, with the Queen's Speech, we got more detail of their plans for government. The Speech itself is available here, but what you actually need to read is...
Housing and immigration. Bombshells and bombast
In a speech timed to hide the release of the latest figures on net migration, the Prime Minister made an assortment of announcements on forthcoming policies. The part that concern us here, went as follows: There are other ways we can identify those...
What’s the Din? The Supremes’ Cut
Haile v Waltham Forest LBC [2015] UKSC 34 is the second of the triptych of cases which are before the UKSC (We have yet to have the outcome of the third one, the eligibility appeals in Samin/Mirga). The first, Johnson/Hotak/Kanu, as NL wrote, is...
A home without a household
With thanks to Joe Halewood, comes news of this very interesting First Tier Tribunal bedroom tax appeal. In MR v North Tyneside Council and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Housing and council tax benefits : other) [2015] UKUT 34 (AAC)...
Legal Walk 2015
So, we have another five years in which it seems unlikely that access to justice will be a priority. The London Legal Walk on 18 May 2015, raising funds for a range of not for profit access to justice organisations and projects is therefore more...
Vulnerability – a fresh start
Hotak (Appellant) v London Borough of Southwark (Respondent) Kanu (Appellant) v London Borough of Southwark (Respondent) Johnson (Appellant) v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (Respondent) Crisis & Shelter, EHRC, SS for CLG interveners...
A blind eye to Nelson
A couple of bedroom tax decisions, one Upper Tribunal, one FTT, both of which involve findings for the tenant in the landscape after the Upper Tribunal decision in Nelson (SSWP v David Nelson and Fife Council, SSWP v James Nelson and Fife...
As difficult as pulling teeth
Williamson v Khan. Birmingham County Court. Claim No: 3YS66585 (12 March 2015). Disrepair claims against private landlords are often interesting. Not least because said landlords have a tendency to take ridiculous positions and stick with them to...
HMO corner.
A couple of recent Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber) decisions on HMOs under licensing schemes. Urban Lettings (London) Ltd v London Borough Of Haringey [2015] UKUT 104 (LC) What does an 'appropriate person' 'having control of a HMO' mean in...