Ben Hoare Bell Solicitors & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v The Lord Chancellor [2015] EWHC 523 (Admin) The legal aid funding regulations for judicial reviews, in effect from April 2014, were the subject of this judicial review. To cut to the...
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Miscellaneous
Assorted things of note. The closing date for applications for the Tower Hamlets Law Centre Housing Solicitor post has been extended to 11 March 2015. Southend have been refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in Southend v Amour (our...
Ending flexible tenancies – a reminder
We don't usually (indeed ever) repost previous material on NL. But I'm making an exception for this one, because I think it is timely. Flexible tenancies have been in existence for a while in some boroughs and I would expect that it is round about...
Bedroom tax and sanctuary schemes
A quick note to record that the judicial review of the bedroom tax regulations as being discriminatory on the basis that a 'panic room' equipped for domestic violence victims was classed as a 'spare bedroom' failed. The judgment does not appear to...
Southwark gatekeeping: All of the wrong
R(Anon) v LB Southwark (Claim No CO/2035/2014 - settled by consent) Courtesy of Hansen Palomares Solicitors comes news of this settled Judicial Review of LB Southwark's gatekeeping practices on homeless applications. It appears, to put it mildly,...
Illegal occupation is no bar to adverse possession
Best, R (On the Application Of) v The Secretary of State for Justice (Rev 1) [2015] EWCA Civ 17 The Court of Appeal considered the clash of s.144 LASPO and the rules on adverse possession, on appeal from the Administrative Court. Our report on the...
A new approach to improvements
Waaler v LB Hounslow [2015] UKUT 17 (LC) The background to this case is quite familiar to anyone who has been dealing with local authority leasehold service charge disputes over the last few years. Hounslow embarked upon a scheme of major works on...
Violent Conduct and Homelessness
A brief note on Hussain v LB Waltham Forest [2015] EWCA Civ 14, which concerns the definition of 'other violence' in s.177(1) of the Housing Act 1996. In Yemshaw v LB Hounslow [2011] UKSC 3, the Supreme Court held that 'violence' under s.177(1)...
On the naughty step: The Low Road edition
While there is an update to be made on our old friends Charles Henry & Co (the 'not solicitors'), it will have to wait, because we have some new and very, very special friends. And excitingly, these friends involve us in both Scots land law and...
Zambrano carers and social assistance
There must be times when Court of Appeal judges think that they have bit parts in an ongoing drama - they have a walk on role. And that must be how the Court felt in Sanneh v SSWP and others [2015] EWCA Civ 49, which concerns the eligibility rules...
Let’s all move to Wales …*
Yesterday, the Welsh Government published the Renting Homes (Wales) Bill. The Bill seeks to implement the Law Commission's Renting Homes Bill, with some major amendments partly reflecting the devolution settlement (ie what can be done) and partly...
Lord Justice Lewison and the Return of English
I recently found myself reading and writing about the Court of Appeal judgement in Edwards v Kurasamy (our report here). Doing so made me think about the recent spate of judgements given by Lewison LJ that have touched on the private rental sector....