[Update 22 November 2018. In the Budget, the Govt has said that: a) the 7 days without any payment after UC claim will be scrapped b) For those with existing HB/LHA claims, there will be a two week overlap of existing HB/LHA payments after the UC claim date...
‘I’m not racist, I just won’t let to them’. Fergus Wilson meets the Equality Act
Fergus Wilson (for it is he) has managed to cap such highlights of a landlording career as being convicted of assaulting his letting agent, and evicting tenants (including single mothers or 'battered wives') because they were on housing benefit or likely to...
Deposits, Lies and Unlawful Evictions
Zeeshan v Mahmood, County Court at Manchester, 27 October 2017. (Our grateful thanks to Amy Tagoe of Stephensons Solicitors for the following note of this unlawful eviction case) The Claimants were the tenants of a property owned by the Defendant by way of...
Hide and Seek with Justice – A Rant
(Updated 26/10/2017 - at the bottom) Access to justice is one thing. Actually being able to find it another. This is the sorry, sad, truly pathetic tale of the fall out of the closure of Lambeth County Court. I'm sorry for length, but hell, it has been a...
Fitness for Habitation 2.0 – Q&A and call to arms
If you haven't already heard, Karen Buck MP got fourth place in the 2017 ballot for private members bills. And she has taken this opportunity to bring forward a new version of the 'Fitness for Habitation' Bill that was filibustered in 2015 (and then was...
Subletting and defamation – a novel approach
There is a queue of significant and serious cases waiting to be written up. For time and personal reasons, this may not happen for a while. Instead, here is an insignificant case of no wider importance, but possibly some entertainment value. Howell v South...
On the naughty step – Physician heal thyself edition
If Nearly Legal has a mantra, it is this: "Everyone should have a housing lawyer with them at all times". Or, at the bare minimum, a landlord and tenant lawyer. We had taken the reasonableness of this to be self-evident. However, it seems even this basic...
Warrant on Suspended order – What do you think?
Following the judgment in Cardiff City Council v Lee (2016) EWCA Civ 1034 (our report) and the subsequent appearance of new forms, at least for rent arrears suspended possession order cases, the Civil Procedure Rules Committee is having a consultation on...
One Million Pounds!
Diaz v Karim [2017] EWHC 595 (QB) The schedule of special damages - never straightforward. The belongings that had to be thrown out, or were taken and not returned. The difficulty in evidencing them, the difficulty in evidencing proof of purchase (who keeps...
Aesthetics, unlawful kitchens and warehousing bus drivers
A triplet of brief notes. Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring won a judicial review of the Magistrates and Crown Court decisions upholding RB Kensington & Chelsea's Notice under s.215 Town and County Planning Act 1990, ordering her to paint her Kensington property...
Water and youth
Not, I hasten to make clear, a Daily Mail style piece on the health giving properties of drinking expensive water, but a couple of quick notes. First, a Southwark rent arrears possession case, demonstrating that the effects of Jones v London Borough of...
Andy Gale, misuse and me. FAO housing options officers
[Update 20/03/17 - Locata have come back to me again and are changing the relevant wording in the toolkit. The issue is resolved.] I didn't want to have to write this, but sadly I have to, to protect my and our own position here on NL. Because Andy Gale...