Part 2 of a quick initial look at the Renters' Rights Bill draft, concentrating on what has changed from the late Renters (Reform) Bill that forms its basis. Part 1 of the headlines look is here, and our previous views on the Renters (Reform) Bill - much of...
ASB and disqualification from the housing register
Willott, R (On the Application Of) v Eastbourne Borough Council (2024) EWHC 113 (Admin) A judicial review of Eastbourne's allocation policy and of Eastbourne's decision to exclude Ms Willott from joining the housing register on grounds of 'serious anti...
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5*
It takes a special kind of person who, faced with the multifaceted horrors of our disfunctional housing system, decides that what is really needed is to make it harder for some people to access social housing and to create new grounds or possession.** Yet...
Varying a possession order from discretionary to mandatory ground
Poplar HARCA v Kerr. Central London County Court 26 July 2023. (Unreported. Judgment here.) This was a county court appeal to a circuit judge on the issue of whether a pre-existing suspended possession order, made on a discretionary ground, could be varied...
Renters (Reform) Bill – overview Part 2
Following on from yesterday (17 May) publication of the Renters (Reform) Bill and Part 1 of my overview of what the Bill does, onwards to the rest of it... Pets! There has been a lot of fuss about this, but as Tessa Shepperson has sagely observed, it doesn't...
Renters (Reform) Bill – the good, the potentially good and the ugly. Part 1
It is finally here, a mere five years from first being promised. The Renters (Reform) Bill has started its parliamentary journey today (17 May). As it stands, it is the largest reform to tenancies in England since 1988 (Wales having done its own, even more...
Snoring is not ASB, not even in Lambeth.
LB Lambeth v Fanfair, County Court at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch, 14 February 2023 Our grateful thanks to Angharad Monk of Garden Court and Gurminder Birdi at Cambridge House Law Centre for this note of LB Lambeth's claim for an injunction against Ms...
Local authority serving notices – requirements
Birmingham City Council v Bravington (2023) EWCA Civ 308 A quick one - A possession claim under s.84A Housing Act 1985 requires service of a notice under section 83ZA. In this case: The respondent, Mr Drew Bravington, has since 2018 had a secure tenancy of a...
Rabbit holes to fall down
In case you are in need of distraction from the heat/the tory leadership contest/getting your first, second or third bout of covid/the general state of all things, may I present a small collection of judgments at which to rubberneck. None seem massively...
Excluded grounds of possession and subsequent grounds
Poplar HARCA v Kerr. Clerkenwell & Shoreditch County Court. February 2022. DJ Bell (Unreported, we've seen a note of extempore judgment.) Our thanks to Daniel Skinner for the note of judgment in this case, which is of interest on the argument that the...
‘The present proceedings should never have been brought.’ ASB and disability discrimination.
Rosebery Housing Association Ltd v Williams & Anor (2021) EW Misc 22 (CC) Our grateful thanks to Marie Paris of Doughty Street Chambers for the following note of this County Court judgment. Applications for injunctions under Part 1 of ASBCPA 2014 seem to...
The Queen(o.a.o Rayner) v Leeds Magistrates Court: closure orders, legal aid reviews and adjournments
In this recent judicial review (2021) EWHC 1964 (Admin) H.H. Judge Gosnell addressed interesting questions around closure orders, adjournments, Article 6(1) rights, and the refusal of the Magistrates Court to state a case. He declined to grant relief...