R (CN) v LB Lewisham; R (ZH) v Newham LBC [2013] EWCA Civ 804 This is a very important decision from the summer. For some reason we haven’t got round to writing it up before now. In the meantime England have managed to retain (yay) and then lose (boo) the...
Blow the rent, have another egg nog
Hammersmith & Fulham Council have come up with a novel way of angering their tenants. Faced with a substantial rent arrears problem, with a reported 46% of tenants in arrears (what with the bedroom tax, the end of council tax benefit and all), H&F...
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (To Manage)
Fairhold Mercury Ltd v HQ (Block 1) Action Management Co Ltd [2013] UKUT 487 (LC) Fairhold (Yorkshire) Ltd v Trinity Wharf (SE16) RTM Co Ltd [2013] UKUT 502 (LC) Assethold Ltd v 7 Sunny Gardens RTM Co Ltd [2013] UKUT 509 (LC) No.1 Deansgate (Residential) Ltd...
Shortfalls, guidance and intentionality
Birmingham City Council v Balog [2013] EWCA Civ 1582 A s.202 review decision on affordability was at the centre of this second appeal, brought by Birmingham after a s.204 appeal decision went against them. The issue was to what extent the review decision...
What use is a Zambrano right of residence?
A couple of years ago a lot of lawyers practising in housing, immigration and welfare benefits got very excited by the case of Ruiz Zambrano (European citizenship) [2011] EUECJ C-34/09. The reason for this excitement was that the ECJ said that art.20, of the...
The Permissive Notice
Spencer v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 1600 This case was flagged recently on the Arden Chambers eflash service. This flash gave some bare bones details and led to much debate on the internal NL email discussion list. However, we now have the vital transcript and...
Housing Law Conference 2013
It is that time of year again. The HLPA housing law conference 2013 is on Tuesday, 10 December. A decent sprinkling of NL people will be there. It promises to be a very good day, details are below. There are a few places left, or at least there were on...
Meanwhile, back in Parliament
There was a short (and not particularly well-informed) debate in Westminster Hall yesterday about leasehold property management. Quite amusingly, Nick Boles MP (Under-Secretary of State at CLG) had this to say about the Right to Manage: Nick Boles:... I want...
Allocations and legitimate expectation
In R(Alansi) v Newham LBC, Stuart-Smith J held that, although Ms Alansi had a legitimate expectation that she would remain a priority homeseeker on Newham's housing register, Newham had not acted unreasonably and in abuse of its power by withdrawing its...
On families, powers and duties to accommodate
R (on the application of MK) v Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council [2013] EWHC 3486 (Admin) [Judgment on Lexis, not on Bailii yet] A judicial review raising the extent of a Council's duties and powers under s.17 Children Act 1989 and s.1 Localism Act...
‘Gorry’ Regulations Guidance
In other bedroom tax news, the DWP has issued a Circular to Local Authorities on The Housing Benefit and Universal Credit (Size Criteria) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013 - the new regulations implementing the Gorry judgment on LHA and housing...
More children and housing duties
AT & Ors v London Borough Of Islington [2013] EWCA Civ 1505 We are a bit late with this one, but while we are on the interrelation of duties to children and housing duties, this was an an application for permission to appeal a judicial review decision on...