Humber Landlords Association v Hull City Council (2019) EWHC 332 (Admin) (not on Baiili yet, copy of the judgment here). There are many unfortunate ways for claimants to lose a judicial review. But being told that your challenge is based on you getting the...
Bits of news and things to respond to.
Assorted things... MHCLG have published guidance for tenants, landlords and local authorities on the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 - or as they call it, 'the Homes Act'. There are separate guidance documents for tenants, landlords and local...
Rights and Right to rent
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2019) EWHC 452 (Admin) (For transparency, I acted for one of the interveners, the Residential Landlords Association, in this case.) This was...
No release from gas
Trecarrell House Limited v Rouncefield, County Court at Exeter, 13 February 2019 (unreported elsewhere) The gas safety certificate section 21 wars rumble on. Following Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz (our note here), we have a further County Court...
U Can’t Do This*
This is another in what turns out to be an occasional series of unregulated, unqualified 'Evictions R Us' outfits making catastrophic errors and costing their clients large amounts of money. You may recall Kassam v Gill & Gill, featuring 'Remove a...
Build defects and fitness for habitation
Rendlesham Estates Plc & Ors v Barr Ltd (2014) EWHC 3968 (TCC) Well, we did write this one up at the time (our report here), but I don't think we quite appreciated the general significance of the case. We certainly didn't anticipate that it might...
Fitness for Habitation – a thumbnail guide
As of 20 December 2018, we have the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. This is a quick (very quick) overview of the Act and how it works. For a more detailed version, there may well be a forthcoming book... The Act amends the Landlord and Tenant...
Finally! – Fitness for Human Habitation passes
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill passed Third Reading in the House of Lords on 19 December. If you are reading this on 20 December, it might even already be an Act, as it may receive royal assent on 20 December. The Bill/Act provides that it...
Of HHSRS and Hiatuses
A couple of things... MHCLG have issued an "Addendum for the profile for the hazard of fire and in relation to cladding systems on high rise residential buildings" to the operating guidance to the HHSRS in relation to ACM cladding. The aim is: to provide...
All out of Proportion
We saw the case of McDonald v McDonald through the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found that as between private parties, there was no right to a proportionality review of eviction under the Section 21 possession claim procedure....
Challenging service charges that aren’t yours, and views on housing in the courts
I'm not going to go into detail on Gateway Holdings (NWB) Ltd v McKenzie & Anor (LANDLORD AND TENANT - SERVICE CHARGES) [2018] UKUT 371 (LC) but it does set out a point of principle. Ms McKenzie, the current leaseholder, sought to challenge service...
A Housing Court – MHCLG have some odd questions for you.
And so the promised 'call for evidence' on the need for and outline of a specialist Housing Court has come to pass. And, frankly, what an odd thing it is. First, the MCHLG press release is headed Except the one thing that is definitely not happening in this...