Many local authorities use private accommodation for temporary accommodation under Housing Act 1996 Part VII. This may be by an LA ALMO 'managing agency', on which more at another time, or by licence agreements with private agencies. One of the latter came...
Public Law Defence – an arguable case
McGlynn v Welwyn Hatfield District Council [2009] EWCA Civ 285 was an appeal of a summary possession that had been stayed pending Doherty in the Lords. Mr McGlynn was granted a non-secure tenancy by Welwyn in 2000, in pursuance of homelessness obligations...
The Irish Doherty?
This is well outside our usual beat, not to say our jurisdiction, but in an interesting case, the Irish High Court in Dublin City Council v Gallagherr [2008] IEHC 354 has found, for a second time, that summary possession proceedings, infringed Art. 8 rights...
The difference in Doherty?
A Court of Appeal judgment expressly dealing with a post Doherty public law defence to termination of licence by Notice to Quit was handed down today. Doran v Liverpool City Council [2009] EWCA Civ 146 concerned a possession claim for a plot on a local...
Ask and ye shall receive
Yesterday evening I asked for more information about Dixon v Wandsworth LBC (No 2) [2009] EWHC 27 (Admin) and, by the next morning, two copies of the transcript had made their way to my inbox. My gratitude to The Chief and to William Flack of Flack & Co,...
The Basildon Endgame
As people may well have noticed from the news on TV and in the press, the last Court of Appeal hearing in the drawn out saga of the (unlawful) Essex traveller sites resulted in a defeat for the travellers. Basildon District Council v McCarthy & Ors...
In passing…
A couple of quick notes from the HLPA meeting this evening. Aweys v Birmingham is listed for the Lords next week (homeless at home and allocation policy differences in priority between homeless at home and those with no accommodation available, as if you...
Expanding the Public Law defence, a bit
What Doherty v Birmingham City Council (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intervening) [2008] UKHL 57 actually means for a public law defence to possession claims, particularly summary possession, was the subject of London Borough of...
A Post-Doherty Appeal?
Doherty v Birmingham CC [2008] 3 WLR 636 left us all wondering about the form and limits of a challenge to summary possession proceedings. My attempt at smuggling proportionality into a public law defence settled, for instance -good for the client, rather...
Alternative sites – the burden of proof
South Cambridgeshire District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Ors [2008] EWCA Civ 1010 was an appeal of a High Court decision on Judicial Review of the decision of an Inspector in the appeal of a planning decision not...
Pre-emptive possession orders
Secretary of State for the Environment Food & Rural Affairs v Meier & Ors [2008] EWCA Civ 903 was a case concerning travellers encamped on Forestry Commission land. Some of the travellers had previously camped on a nearby patch of Forestry Commission...
Notes on Doherty v Birmingham CC
So, Doherty (FC) (Appellant) and others v Birmingham City Council (Respondent) [2008] UK HL 57 Well, well, and once more for effect, well. This is a very interesting result indeed, although I use the word result in a non-definite kind of way. The headline is...