A couple of items on possession claims and evictions. And another occasion to overuse exclamation marks. According to the Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting of 8 October 2021, Practice Direction 55C will be sort of coming to an end on 30 November 2021, but...
Possession proceedings – end of the ‘overall arrangements’.
Yesterday (3 November) a statement from the Master of the Rolls announcing the end of the 'overall arrangements for possession proceedings', as of 1 November 2021, was put up on the judiciary website. The statement is here. (The original version of this post...
There’s a cheque on the table – s.21 and return of deposit
Gul v Bilal, Stratford Hearing Centre, 18 October 2021 (unreported. We've seen a note of hearing). A County Court decision on a landlord's application which adds to the not uncomplicated history of decisions on when a tenancy deposit counts as returned to...
Rent Repayment applications – time limits for substituting parties
Gurusinghe & Ors v Drumlin Ltd (HOUSING - RENT REPAYMENT ORDER - Procedure) (2021) UKUT 268 (LC) Just a quick note on this one - an appeal to the Upper Tribunal on an FTT decision on an application to add a new respondent to an RRO application as the...
Rent Repayment Orders – not ALL the rent.
Williams v Parmar & Ors (HOUSING - RENT REPAYMENT ORDER) (2021) UKUT 244 (LC) We knew that the Upper Tribunal has been itching to get an appeal on the approach to the assessment of the amount of a rent repayment order, ever since Ficcara v James,...
Private sector assortment
Some bits for private sector tenancies (in England, mainly), including s.21 notice periods, Tenant Fees Act and tenancy 'churn', an updated electrical safety guide for tenants, and the distant prospects of a Renters Reform Bill. I've belatedly updated the...
Things! Useful and allowing for schadenfreude
An assortment of useful and amusing things for a Sunday. First, the many and varied changes to the notice periods and validity periods of section 21 notices over the last 18 months has caused headaches for all involved in trying to calculate the relevant...
Misc – erratum, Bedroom tax and DA, and Tribunal managers and reserve funds
An assortment of things... First an erratum to yesterday's post on the High Court judgment on applications to cancel a debt moratorium. The High Court had held that such an application must be by claim form. I was subsequently pointed at Practice Direction...
1 October – new (old) notice periods and new forms
New regulations were laid today (9 Sept) coming into force on 1 October 2021 for England. The snappily titled The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies and Notices) (Amendment and Suspension) (England) Regulations 2021 do the following. Extend the...
Misc – notice periods, evictions and an ASBi for illegal eviction
A few notes... As of 1 August 2021, the notice period for notices seeking possession on grounds of rent arrears for arrears of less than 4 months rent was reduced from 4 months notice to 2 months notice. Where arrears are of 4 months or more, the notice...
Pick the first landlord up
Rakusen v Jepson & Ors, Safer Renting Intervenor (2021) EWCA Civ 1150 This is the Court of Appeal judgment on an appeal from the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) appeal (our report here). It is of huge significance for Rent Repayment Order applications...
How to Rent and Easy Read – updates and issues.
Ah, the How to Rent Guide. Is there anything that would so predictably cause problems and yet has been so frequently messed up by MHCLG? The latest instalment of the saga goes like this. On 21 July 2021, MHLCG updated the 'How to Rent Guide' page. But...