June's Legal Action housing updates have a bumper collection of interesting county court cases, as you'll already know. For our archives, this is the first of a couple of posts. This one deals with cases on post-eviction re-entry and on re-opening possession...
Five go to Mornington Crescent
[aka Three out of the Five go ever so slightly bonkers on the way to Mornington Crescent, and one of those three gets lost on the way] On the Radio 4 show, I'm sorry I haven't a clue, there is a game called Mornington Crescent, in which there are no rules...
Birmingham v’s the boy racers
Birmingham City Council v Persons Unknown - 0BM70352 (noted by way of Arden Chambers Eflash) is a successful attempt by a local authority to distinguish the decision in Birmingham CC v Shafi [2008] EWCA Civ 1186; [2009] 1 WLR 1961; [2009] HLR 25 (our note...
‘Ard en fast rule*
James v Birmingham City Council [2010] EWHC 282 (Admin) is a further dispute about the power of the court to vary an ASBO. A magistrates court may make and ASBO against any person over the age of 10 if it can be proved (to the criminal standard of proof,...
Trigger happy?
In Barber v Croydon LBC [2010] EWCA Civ 51, the Court of Appeal found Croydon's decision to pursue possession proceedings of a non-secure tenancy occupied by Mr Barber Wednesbury unreasonable, being by my estimation the third such successful use of a gateway...
It's a confused world out there…
And for the new year, it seems an opportune moment to delve into the Nearly Legal search logs in a vaguely quixotic attempt to provide answers to some of the questions that brought people here. Alternatively, where this is not possible, we can stare in mute...
How late did you leave it?
Not a post about Christmas shopping, (which is all done, thanks to Amazon) but about delays in lodging appeals against ASBOs and the case of R (Birmingham CC) v Birmingham Crown Court; R (South Gloucestershire DC) v Bristol Crown Court [2009] EWHC 3329...
ASBO in absentia
M v Burnley, Pendle & Rossendale Magistrates' Court [2009] EWHC 2874 (Admin) (on Lawtel only) The claimant were two brothers, aged 13 and 14. They were subject to ASBOs which prohibited them from engaging in certain anti-social behaviour in the borough...
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 ASBO. An...
Unwelcome in the valleys
While we are in Wales and with thanks to the Garden Court housing bulletin, we report an Ombudsman's decision Complaint against Cardiff CC 200702358 [pdf] Mr Davies and Miss Brown complained about Cardiff Council's failure to deal with noise nuisance and...
What is "housing-related conduct?"
Swindon BC v Redpath [2009] EWCA Civ 943 By s.153A(1) Housing Act 1996, a variety of social landlords, including local housing authorities, may apply for an injunction to restrain a person from engaging in "housing-related" anti-social behaviour. That means...
Kathirkmanathan revisited
Circle 33 Housing Trust Limited v Kathirkmanathan [2009] EWCA Civ 921 We first reported on this case in July 2009, on the basis of a lawtel note, which was all that was available at the time. In this quiet time for new judgments, there are a few such cases...