Staunton v Kaye & Anor [2010] UKUT 270 (LC) This is a rather confused matter from the Upper Tribunal (Lands) sitting in Manchester. It is made all the more confused by a transcript which muddles parties and at one point suggests the LVT was in error in...
Carrots and sticks – travellers’ sites
News from Mr Pickles and the DCLG Item 1. The Government is to bring s.318 Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 into force, finally according travellers on authorised sites the same security as those who come under the Mobile Homes Act. Hurrah. Item 2. Planning...
Fee hike for appeals from the LVT
The ministry of justice has just published its response [PDF] to its consultation on fees for the Lands Tribunal — now of course the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). This is bad news if you are an appellant. The fee for seeking permission to appeal from the...
Allocations: A whiff of reform
And now for a housing-related post ... Anybody reading the Sunday Times will have seen Grant Schapps talking about an allocations Consultation Paper that CLG are preparing. Apparently, this will propose giving local authorities the power to set up their own...
The CLP challenge considered.
[Edit 27/08/10 An early version of this post said that the JR had been given permission. This was wrong. The hearing was actually adjourned to 8 September without permission having formally been given. Apologies for my error. I've edited the post to correct...
“Irrational” Welfare tender newsflash
Hot on the heels of the last post comes this news of a Judicial Review permission hearing on an application by friends of the blog, Community Law Partnership, against the LSC. Choice quotes from Collins J "I am bound to say this is a dreadful decision and on...
Of contracts, shifting goalposts and lawfulness
[Edit 01/09/2010. There has been a further change to the FAQ discussed in this post. See the new post here] Bear with me. This is going to be a bumpy ride. The LSC's terms of tender for civil contracts stated Paragraph 15.11: “For a tender to be complete,...
On the Naughty Step – drop the dead donkey redux
There is very hot competition among the cast of this sorry episode for being placed on the step. This is also a story which has already been commented on by Tessa Shepperson of Landlord Law, who indeed played a small - and entirely virtuous - part. But Tessa...
Hospital or prison – your choice
Boatwright v Boatwright [2010] EWCA Civ 877 Let us not get excited, this is a nothing of a case, but in these dog days of summer, where substantive case law is hard to come by, we have to take what we can get. The Court of Appeal were confronted by a frankly...
An ugly metaphor
This is the Strata Tower, less than proud winner of Building Design's 2010 Carbuncle Cup, awarded to the ugliest new building in the country for its 'odour of boy musk', 'grim stridency' and for auditioning for a 'James Bond title sequence in the Elephant...
Alas poor Commonhold…
Commonhold was introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 and, in essence, is a new way (i.e. not freehold or leasehold) for flat owners to collectively hold the building containing their flats. It's not proved very popular, with only c.20...
Contracts and appeals: An Unclarification from the LSC
The LSC, aware that there is a lot of interest in the appeals process for the contract award decisions (mainly, of course, because there are a lot of organisations appealing), has become concerned about "some inaccurate and confusing press reports". The LSC...