Okadigbo & Anor v Chan & Anor [2014] EWHC 4729 (QB) When awarding a penalty for breach of the Section 213 Housing Act 204 requirements for tenancy deposits, the court has a discretion over the amount of penalty under section 214 "(4) The court...
Tenancy deposits – where we are now?
With the relevant parts of the Deregulation Act 2015 having come into force on 26 March 2015, time for a quick outline of what the changes mean for deposit protection and section 21 notices. Deposit taken pre 6 April 2007 which became statutory periodic...
Regulations and damn regulations.
Two quite different sets of secondary legislation. First: there is a new prescribed form for section 6(2), section 8 and section 13(2) notices for assured (including shorthold) tenancies from 6 April 2015. The regulations are here and the prescribed forms...
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. I am...
Proposed changes to S.21
As well as the clauses introducing the retaliatory eviction proposals, the Government's proposed amendments to the Deregulation Bill would make some other changes to s.21. The effects would be: No s.21 notice can be served within the first 4 months of the...
The revenge of retaliatory eviction law
After the Teather 'revenge eviction' member's bill was talked out by a couple of Tory MPs, (Chope and Davis), the question was would the proposals survive in another form before the election. Well today, the DCLG announced the Government's proposed...
Unnoticed
Another Court of Appeal disrepair judgment! I can barely contain myself. And on a fairly important issue too. So.. Edwards v Kumarasamy [2015] EWCA Civ 20 Mr Edwards rented a second floor flat from Mr Kumarasamy. Mr K was the leaseholder of that flat, but...
Disrepair damages update
With very grateful thanks to Beatrice Prevatt’s annual disrepair update in the December 2014/January 2015 Legal Action, here is a bumper pack of County Court cases and settled cases on damages for disrepair. Armes v Wheel Property Co Ltd, Clerkenwell and...
Unlawful eviction and harassment quantum update
With grateful thanks to Jan Luba QC and HHJ Madge's housing update in the December 2014/January 2015 Legal Action, here are a few recent County Court cases on unlawful eviction and harassment. Alabbas v Uppelle. Leicester County Court, 8 October 2014 Mr...
Of Penalties and Possession
Charalambous & Anor v Maureen Rosairie Ng & Anor [2014] EWCA Civ 1604 The Court of Appeal has again thrown the cat among the tenancy deposit protection pigeons. In Charalambous it had to grapple with the, admittedly fairly rare scenario, of a deposit...
Shome mishtake shurely: The RLA discover a defence to s.21
[Update 26/11/204. Rather gloriously and hilariously rudely, the RLA have replied. Their response and an explanation of why they are shooting themselves in the foot is now at the end of this post] As the second reading of the Teather bill on retaliatory...
A Thursday stuffed with housing stuff
A busy Thursday for housing law, not yet law, housing benefits and housing misc. Item one. A Scottish Upper Tribunal is to hear a room size appeal on 18 September. This is one of the first Fife decisions. It is not the lead case in the English Upper...