Council leaseholders, those who exercised the right to buy or those who bought from them, have been facing very hefty major works charges, perhaps particularly in London. When repairs have been carried out alongside Decent Homes programmes, or as large scale...
Leasehold repair covenants and damages
Hunt & Ors v Optima (Cambridge) Ltd & Ors [2013] EWHC 681 (TCC) This is a brief note on what was a complex case arising out of what, by any measure, appears to have been a very poor construction and subsequent maintenance of a new build block of...
Cold and wet… Disrepair quantum
Courtesy of Beatrice Prevatt's disrepair update in the December 2012 Legal Action, here are a couple of County Court disrepair cases. Both proving the general rule which we have previously noted, that it is only the least competent of private landlords that...
Leases, repairs and ‘errors’
For long leases, outside the provisions of s.11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the repairing obligation of the landlord is limited to the exact terms set out in the lease, as is the extent to which the landlord can recover the costs of repairs from the...
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...
More on more on damages
Or Simmons v Castle round two Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1288 As you may know, the original Court of Appeal decision in Simmons v Castle on the 10% uplift in general damages (our report here) was revisited after representations by the ABI and APIL. I'm...
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...
Mind the Step 2 – The bannister that wasn’t
This is the second of two recent cases on Defective Premises Act 1972 and stairs (for the first see here). There is now a third case on Occupiers Liability Act 1957 with our note to come shortly. Patrick Joseph Hannon v Hillingdon Homes Limited [2012] EWHC...
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...
No right of entry! (On vanished tenancies)
Well, there's an oddity. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 2 para 12(1) has repealed section 8(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. The relevant provision is: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 12 (1) Omit section 8(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act...
Giving 110%
We wouldn't usually cover a PI case here on NL, but Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039 has - and is intended to have - implications far beyond PI. The case itself was an appeal arising out of a road traffic accident. The Recorder had awarded damages...
The Cold Renormalisation
Liverpool City Council v Kassim [2011] UKUT 169 (LC) A thank you to the EHP who brought our attention to this case. The full decision is also available as a pdf at the end of their post until the Lands Tribunal catches up. Mr Kassim owns a rented flat. It...