Hunt v Hussain, Epsom County Court 31 July 2009 (LAG housing law updates October 2009) As ever, the Legal Action housing law updates have some useful cases, this from the October 2009 issue. This is another of the reports on County Court judgments on...
Limiting the right to buy (in Scotland)?
The SNP have announced that they intend to abolish the right to buy for all new build council and social housing in Scotland. The policy is intended to safeguard up to 18,000 social homes. Figures in England show a steep decline in interest in the right to...
Reasonable excuse
Only tangentially relevant to housing law, but R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570 is a decision of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) dealing with the question of burden of proof for a "reasonable excuse" defence when charged with breaching an ASBO. An...
Public funding on appeal
E, R (on the application of) v Governing Body of JFS & Anor [2009] UKSC 1 Our first Supreme Court report and it is a cracker. Not housing law, but legal aid funding is the issue, so those not interested in legal aid issues can look away now... The issue...
Penal Notices on Admin Court orders?
MSA v London Borough of Croydon [2009] EWHC 2474 (Admin) A technical point on judicial review cases here, but as it is something I've run up against in the past, I think it is interesting. Collins J considers whether a penal notice should be attached to an...
Accidental overpayments not recoverable
Child Poverty Action Group, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2009] EWCA Civ 1058 This is a benefits case rather than housing per se, but it concerns an important point which will affect many. An overpayment of social...
1/4 pounder or Royale with Cheese? Zehentner v Austria
(With apologies to vegetarians, vegans, and non-lovers of Tarantino/Pulp Fiction) In Pulp Fiction, John Travolta's character explains to Samuel L Jackson's that it is the "little differences" in Europe that make it interesting - they do things differently...
A disgraceful situation and an excellent answer
R (A) v Leicester City Council and the London Borough of Hillingdon [2009] EWHC 2351 (Admin) (only on Lawtel) is an attempt to answer the "interesting question" posed by the Court of Appeal in R (Liverpool CC) v LB Hillingdon and AK (interested party) [2009]...
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...
How many weeks make 8?
Doncaster v Coventry City Council, First Tier Tribunal 032/09/00932, 5 October 2009. A copy of the decision is currently available here and a gloss here. This was an appeal of a review decision addressing at what point a tenant is in 8 weeks arrears for the...
A housing uncooperative?
The case of Mexfield Housing Co-Operative v Berrisford [2009] EWHC 2392 (Ch) illustrates the potentially precarious situation in which the tenant of a fully-mutual Housing Co-operative may find themselves. The facts are simple. Miss Berrisford had been a...
Unfair but not unsatisfactory
Morgan and another v Fletcher and others LRX/81/2008 is an important decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (aka the Lands Tribunal) on the scope of s.35, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. As you'll remember, Part 4, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 confers...