Poplar Housing & Regeneration Community Association Ltd v Begum & Ors [2017] EWHC 2040 (QB) We are no fans of illegal subletting of social housing here at NL. So here is an appeal by the landlord of a county court decision to grant a suspended...
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...
“Real misery is being caused to no good purpose”
DA & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2017) EWHC 1446 (Admin) This was the judicial review of the 'reduced' benefit cap - £20,000 pa outside London, £23,000 in London, brought by claimants who were all single...
Bedrooms, river beds and more
A few things... In case you didn't see it through email or social media, I wrote a long piece about social housing in the aftermath of Grenfell Tower, which is on a separate page at that link. In Scotland, the Inner House of the Court of Session heard an...
The Tribunal unleashed
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Carmichael and Sefton BC (HB) [2017] UKUT 0174 (AAC) Oh my. This was the DWP's appeal to the Upper Tribunal of the First Tier Tribunal's decision on the Carmichael's bedroom tax appeal (our report here). It was...
Northern Waters
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Ltd v Izevbigie (2017) EWHC 790 (CH) (not on Bailii yet, Judgment is here) Rochdale BH is a social housing provider (of what was the council's housing stock). The issue in this case - heard as a preliminary issue - was whether...
Greenwich has problems with water
The ramifications of Jones v London Borough of Southwark (2016) EWHC 457 (Ch) (our report) rumble on. Following the finding that Southwark were a water reseller for the purposes of The Water Resale Order 2006 in adding water rates to the tenants' rent, it is...
Suspense surrounds suspended possession orders
Ever since Cardiff City Council v Lee [2016] EWCA Civ 1034 (our note), there has been a ferment and a gnashing of teeth amongst landlords, particularly social landlords, about the best way to deal with the 'new' requirement under CPR 83(2) to make an...
Private sector updates
Section 8 notice prescribed form The Govt has made The Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (England) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016. The Schedule contains a new 'form 3' - the prescribed form of Section 8 Notice Seeking Possession....
A touch of sanity? Mandatory Pay to Stay gone away.
The Housing minister, Gavin Barwell, has today announced that the Government will not be pursuing the provisions in the Housing And Planning Act 2016 that implemented mandatory 'pay to stay' provisions for local authority tenants. Instead, it will be...
With and without foundation – Bedroom tax in Supreme Court
MA & Ors, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKSC 58 R (on the application of Carmichael and Rourke) (formerly known as MA and others) (Appellants) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Respondent) R (on...
Warrant on breach of SPO – permission required
We foreshadowed this appeal hearing here, and now we have the Court of Appeal judgment. And it is important. Cardiff City Council v Lee [2016] EWCA Civ 1034 The sole issue on the appeal was: can the court proceed to validate a warrant of possession where a...