Herelle v South London Family Housing Association Ltd, CC/2009/PTA/0737 (High Court Chancery Division) 20 July 2010 [Not reported elsewhere] Perhaps apropos of J's recent comments on RSLs 'fighting daft disrepair cases', we have an update on what was a...
Relying on advice on the LHA
Ombudsman's Decision: Complaint against Newham LB [2010] Complaint no 09 003 325 9 November 2010 Hat-tip to the Garden Court bulletin for this one. Miss Thornton (pseudonym) was in temporary accommodation provided by Newham LBC pursuant to the full housing...
A (council) taxing matter
Malik v LB Tower Hamlets [2010] EWHC 2921 (Admin) And so, another council tax/HMO appeal finds its way to the High Court. For those of you wondering why you've suddenly seen more of these in the last year or so, there are two answers: (a) a suddent and...
I’m just venting
Bilgili v (1) Paddington Churches HA & (2) Pathmeads HA [2010] EWCA Civ 1341 (only available on Casetrack, so far as I can tell, but noted in the GC bulletin [edit: eventually appeared on BAILII) is a refusal of permission to bring a second appeal in -...
Private Sector Accommodation and Part 7
Hanton-Rhouila v Westminster City Council [2010] EWCA Civ 1334 This was a second appeal from a s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal which had been dismissed by a Circuit Judge. Mrs Rhoulia had applied as homeless to Westminster and the appeal was of Westminster's...
X & Y v UK?
Thanks to Chief and with particular thanks to the UK Human Rights blog, we now know that the claimants in X&Y v Hounslow have gone to the European Court of Human Rights. As you will recall, this was the desperately sad case which, at first instance,...
Sale and Rent Back – Priority over charge, Round 1
North East Property Buyers Litigation [2010] EWHC 2991 (Ch) [Not on Bailii yet. Available on Lawtel or here] We noted this case was forthcoming a month ago. Judgement was given on 19 November. Thanks to James Stark, we've got a transcript. Thanks to being...
HHSRS, overcrowding and homelessness
I could bore for England about the significance of the HHSRS, overcrowding and their relationship with the definition of homelessness, as well as the significance of the reworked notion of "reasonable to continue to occupy" by the HL in Moran, having worked...
Social housing reform “consultation”
The heavily trailed (eg here and here), "cataclysmic" consultation paper on social housing reforms has been published by CLG today. There is much to digest and much will be left to individual PRPs and local authorities to work out. The "consultation" is...
Legal Aid reforms – Housing
The Ministry of Justice 'consultation paper' on reforms to legal aid to achieve a £350 million cut by 2013/4 is out. It is a hefty 224 odd pages. Responses are required by 14 February 2011 I've done what I can to fillet out its significance for housing and...
Right to manage: two from the Upper Tribunal
Chapter 1, Part 2, Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 makes provision for "qualifying tenants" of a building to form a company that, in turn, will acquire the right to manage the property from the freeholder. It is largely modeled on the collective...
A post-Pinnock reading list
What does a potentially successful "proportionality" defence look like? To put the question slightly differently, what are the contours of proportionality in the context of mandatory possession proceedings? This is the question largely left open by Pinnock...