The Ministry of Justice has issued a consultation document on a proposal to require mortgage lenders to obtain a court order or the consent of the borrower before repossessing and selling residential owner-occupied homes. (The consultation document is here)....
Mortgage possession defeated by constructive trust
An opportunity to indulge in schadenfreude at the expense of a mortgage lender is offered by HSBC v Dyche [2009] EWHC 2954 (Ch) where a claim for possession by a mortgagee was dismissed because the actual occupant of the property was beneficiary under a...
Stick, twist or fo(u)ld?
Abbey National v Miller [2006] EWCA Civ 1520; [2007] EWCA Civ 138 Miller-Foulds v Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs [2008] EWHC 3443 (Ch); [2009] EWCA Civ 1132 You'd be forgiven for not having noticed any of this (long running) litigation over...
A charge for credit
Southern Pacific Personal Loans Ltd v Walker [2009] EWCA Civ 1218 (although the neutral citation may change since there are two cases with number 1218) We noted this case when it was but a county court decision. The Court of Appeal decision is now available...
Subprime settlement
Belmain Finance Limited v Peter James Bentley High Court (Chancery Division) Cardiff. In a widely reported settlement (see here, here and here for example) this case has come to an end. Belmain Finance had lent £40,000 to Mr Bentley, secured against his...
Two for One
Southern Pacific Mortgage Ltd v Heath [2009] EWCA Civ 1135 It has taken me a day or three to get to this one. Nobody else was up for doing it and frankly the detail of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, allegedly intended to make agreements clear for consumers,...
It is an ex-parrot
Scrowther v Watermill Properties [2009] EW Misc 6 (EWCC) Newcastle upon Tyne County Court Continuing the Norwegian theme we appear to have adopted for such cases, here we have a example of an ex-sale and rent back agreement, void and gone to join the choir...
But everybody did it…
Serious Organised Crime Agency v Pelekanos [2009] EWHC 2307 (QB) Just a quick note to observe that this case - well off our usual patch - makes clear that a significant misrepresentation on a mortgage application that would be likely to induce the lender to...
Not so much guidance, more of an exhortation
Back in our post on the 50th update to the CPR, we noted that there was a new requirement from 1 October 2009 for the Claimant in mortgage possession proceedings to notify occupiers of proceedings within 5 days of receiving notification of the date of...
What is a "good" DJ?
We at NL have been having an ongoing, interesting dialogue over the past day or so about what is a good DJ, specifically when dealing with possession proceedings. Our dialogue was initiated by an article which J forwarded to us about Judge Arthur Schack's...
HLPA Conference
The Housing Law Practitioners Association ("HLPA") host their annual conference on December 15, 2009 at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Details have just been released (with more to follow later in September) and can be found at...
Quick to the Plunder
The decision of the Court of Appeal in Nationwide Building Society v Wright [2009] EWCA Civ 811 confirms that a court need not set aside a final charging order merely because the order was made at a time when the owner of the property was insolvent but had...