London Borough of Lewisham -v- Litchmore. 2 October 2009, Bromley County Court Since the beginning of replacement tenancies on May 2009, there have, rather surprisingly, not been any reports on cases involving the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 Schedule...
Way too secure
Gauci v Malta [2009] ECHR 1280 [Link is to rtf] Hat-tip to the Garden Court Bulletin for this one. Mr G owned a property in Malta. It had been let under a 25 year tenancy agreement in 1975. On the expiry of that agreement, the tenants, who owed other...
Gordon Brown – the new Gladstone?
As we all know, William Gladstone walked the streets of London, even while Prime Minister (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886 and 1892–94), seeking out fallen women to rescue, whether they wanted to be rescued or not. What Gladstone did when he accosted a prostitute was...
Not so much guidance, more of an exhortation
Back in our post on the 50th update to the CPR, we noted that there was a new requirement from 1 October 2009 for the Claimant in mortgage possession proceedings to notify occupiers of proceedings within 5 days of receiving notification of the date of...
Accommodation pending review: Mohammed in action
R (Gebremarium) v City of Westminster [2009] EWHC 2254 (Admin) Thanks to the Garden Court housing bulletin for pointing to this one. We had to look around as the judgment is not yet available anywhere except casetrack. This was the permission hearing of an...
Welcome to the High Court …
Welcome, Kenneth Parker QC, to the High Court. In a case which has more of the surreal about it, Kenneth Parker QC, sitting then as a Deputy Judge, had to decide whether to grant leave to a litigant in person to challenge Octavia Housing and Care's...
Request for info: Powell v Hounslow
We have just heard about a case, Powell v Hounslow, which is apparently due to be heard by the Court of Appeal on 15 November. According to our informant, the issue is whether an Art 8 defence can be made by a non-secure tenant in possession proceedings. We...
Allocations: Risk v Need
In R(M) v Hackney LBC [2009] EWHC 2255 (Admin), Cranston J was faced with a difficult case which "... raises the issue of reconciling individual rights with the rights of the community". The rights concerned were the Claimant's rights to an allocation of a...
Without exception
R (Joseph) v LB Newham [2008] EWHC 1637 (Admin) Blanket policies are unlawful. A first year law undergraduate could tell you that. Any lawyer or public body which didn't know that would deserve public humilliation, probably involving being slapped across the...
Deep (Equality) Impact
R (Domb) v Hammersmith and Fulham [2009] EWCA Civ 941 This is somewhat off our usual turf here at Nearly Legal, but should be of interest to anyone involved in public law challenges. This case involved a challenge to a decision by Hammersmith and Fulham to...
Unwelcome in the valleys
While we are in Wales and with thanks to the Garden Court housing bulletin, we report an Ombudsman's decision Complaint against Cardiff CC 200702358 [pdf] Mr Davies and Miss Brown complained about Cardiff Council's failure to deal with noise nuisance and...
Of Car Parks, Caravans and Councillor's commitments
The City & Council of Swansea v Christine Joyce (and others) Cardiff District Registry, Chancery Division 31 March 2009 7CF30099 This is an example of a post Doherty public law defence at first hearing, and one that succeeded where an alternative defence of...