We bring you two interesting reports from the world of Rent Repayment Orders. Briefly, these stem from a power under s73 and 74 of the Housing Act 2004. These sections allow a Residential Property Tribunal to award a tenant or local authority the return of...
Informing Deposits
Ayannuga v Swindells (2012) CA (Civ) 6 November 2012. On Lawtel but not on BAILII yet. The Court of Appeal has recently ruled on a tenancy deposit protection case regarding the issue of prescribed information. Here T had paid a deposit and L had protected it...
Tempest Tossed?
Does the landlord's repairing duty under Section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 extend to damage by fire, flood or tempest? LB Hammersmith and Fulham v Carty is a County Court judgment reported on Hardwicke Chamber's site which raises some interesting...
The JP, the BBC trainee and the Unlawful Eviction
An unlawful eviction case with some unusual dramatis personae. Rebecca Claire Webb v Samina Amreen Birmingham County Court 31 August 2012 [Unreported elsewhere] Ms Webb was the assured shorthold tenant of Ms Amreen, for a 6 month term from September 2007...
The Deposit Alignment
Johnson v Old, Brighton County Court We have not yet written about this case even though the first instance decision was reported in Legal Action. As it turns out this has been useful as the original decision, as written up in Legal Action has been set aside...
Shut that (undemised) door!
Is the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 still relevant in a landlord & tenant relationship, or not? Jasmine Alexander v (1) Freshwater Properties Limited (2) Christopher Place [2012] EWCA Civ 1048 This was an appeal, decided within a few days of Drysdale v...
A couple of dates and some information short of a s.21 notice
This is a failed possession and tenancy deposit case now of largely historic interest, though the principles still largely hold true. There is also an interesting point on the period of the tenancy - contractual date v rent date. Our thanks to Legal Action's...
Mind the Step 1 – Semi gloss
What constitutes a defect or a lack of repair for the landlord to be liable for tenant's injury? This the first of a couple of cases involving liability under sections 2 Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 and stairs, or...
Follow the money…
Henson v Blackwood & Blackwood. Mayors & City of London Court 29 June 2012 & Central London County Court 25 July 2012 [We are grateful to Dean Underwood of Hardwicke Chambers for his notes on this case, from which quotes are taken and to GT...
Proportionality, Section 21 and starter tenancies
Another RSL 'starter tenancy' and s.21 case, albeit one that marginally pre-dated West Kent HA v Haycraft, is The Riverside Group Limited - v – Sharon Thomas [2012] EWHC 169 (QB) 2 March 2012 (Manchester District Registry) [Not on Bailii. We've seen a...
Don’t Panic!
The Residential Landlords Association appears to have got its collective knickers in a bit of a twist over proportionality. According to its press release and a report on 24dash, the RLA has suddenly decided that Powell v Houslow presents a dramatic threat...
Nothing ever really changes, does it?
Corby BC v Scott & West Kent Housing Association v Haycraft [2012] EWCA Civ 276 are the first cases that have required the Court of Appeal to consider and apply the guidance given in Powell v Hounslow LBC [2011] UKSC 8 & Pinnock v Manchester CC...