And, like a sudden, startling and slightly embarrassing squeak from a vinyl sofa, flexible tenancies are here! London Borough of Barnet have announced, in a manner which suggests absolutely no political motivation behind the decision at all, the 'end of the...
Refusing irrationally
May, R (on the application of) v Birmingham City Council [2012] EWHC 1399 (Admin) When can a Local Authority refuse to accept an application as homeless? This was a judicial review of Birmingham City Council's refusal to accept a homeless application by the...
Deckchairs/Titanic: New Allocations Code
The new allocation code of guidance was published by DCLG today - it had been trailed a little and the smiling face of Grant Shapps appears in a Murdoch rag today (he tweeted the story this morning). There are some interesting snippets in it but, in truth,...
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...
The Only Way in Essex
[amended on 4/7/12] This is a note of a homelessness appeal which was heard on 9/3/2012 by HHJ Worster in Birmingham County Court. The case was run by the Community Law Partnership and by counsel, James Stark, who kindly provided a transcript of the...
The Norwegian Blue
Lindheim and others v Norway 13221/08 & 2139/10 is a case about leasehold enfranchisement, Norwegian style. I wanted to cover it because it might have some relevance to domestic enfranchisement law* and because there are references to a proportionality...
Introductory tenancies and s129 reviews – no conditions please
London Borough of Camden v Stafford [2012] EWCA Civ 839 This case revolves around the question of whether a review under s129 Housing Act 1996 does or doesn't uphold the original decision to serve a notice. In particular, when the decision may state that the...
Double plus ungood
The lovely, smiling Grant Shapps, Housing Minister, who clearly in no way whatsoever wants to distract attention from the recent kerfuffle over his alleged misleading of Parliament through dodgy use of statistics (hereafter Shapptistics), has announced the...
Judicial review of a closed minded appeal
Sharing, R (on the application of) v Preston County Court [2012] EWHC 515 (Admin) [Updated 20 June 2012 to make clear this was a permission to appeal decision, not an appeal hearing] This is by any measure an unusual case. It is a judicial review of the...
New LVT procedural rules: a consultation
It's been promised for a while now. The merger of the LVT (in its various forms, RAC, RPT, etc) into the Tribunal Service as a First Tier Tribunal. And so we finally have the details. In Consultation on proposed new (First Tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber)...
Strengthening Powers of Possession for Anti-Social Behaviour
You may recall that, on August 3, 2011, the Government launched a consultation paper on its proposals to introduce a “mandatory power of possession” against tenants who are responsible for acts of anti-social behaviour. On August 15, 2011, following the...
Routes of appeal from possession claims
In Southwark LBC v Ofogba [2012] EWHC 1620 (QB) Hickinbottom J clarified the routes of appeal for appeals against orders arising in possession claims. Facts Briefly, Southwark brought a claim for possession against Mr Ofogba on the basis of rent arrears. Mr...