R(Weaver) v London & Quadrant [2009] EWCA Civ 587 is out (link to doc of the judgment thanks to Garden Court) This was the Court of Appeal hearing of L&Q's appeal of the High Court finding that it was a public authority in its housing function,...
Rent review (Megarry at last…)
Avid students of assured tenancies will know that the late Sir Robert Megarry wondered (in his work the Rent Acts) what would happen to a term providing for a mechanism for setting the rent that was written into a fixed term assured tenancy after that...
Martin Creed is not kosher
The lights go on, the lights go off, the lights go on, the lights go off. Such was Martin Creed's Turner Prize winning installation (and I will not hear a word against Creed - I warn you now, any objection will be met with a lengthy analysis of late...
Residing, or merely living, with…
Freeman v London Borough of Islington [2009] EWCA Civ 536 was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from a Circuit Judge's finding that Ms Freeman was not entitled to succeed to her father's secure tenancy under s.87 Housing Act 1985. At issue was the definition...
Right to buy and Housing Benefit rebates in the Lords
The House of Lords opinions in Hanoman (FC) (Respondent) v London Borough of Southwark (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 29 were handed down today. This was Southwark's appeal of a Court of Appeal judgment we noted here. Briefly, Mr Hanoman was a Southwark secure...
Keep the noise down
R (McGarrett) v Kingston Crown Court (Divisional Court, 8.6.09) This case appeared as a note on Lawtel this morning and there is no transcript available yet. Mr McGarrett was a tenant of the local authority. He had a PPO on grounds of nuisance hanging over...
Equality Bill – request for help
As we noted here, the Government's new Equality Bill brings together various bits of anti-discrimination legislation and extends some of them. One area that is extended is protection against age discrimination, which is now covered by Part 3, in respect of...
Tenancy deposit alert
Mydeposits.co.uk, which is one of the approved TDS schemes, has issued a press release warning about mytenancydeposits.co.uk, whose site purports to be that of an approved TDS custodial scheme. It isn't. Any landlord whose deposit is with...
Intermittently exposed
Now, this is a bit of an oddity. Mohammadi v Shellpoint Trustees Ltd & Anor [2009] EWHC 1098 (Ch) was an appeal from the Supreme Court Costs Office. It concerned when a person should have the protection from liability for costs under s.17 Legal Aid Act 1988....
Proposed separation of fact and law…
The DCLG have issued a consultation paper on 'dispute resolution' under the (to be) amended Mobile Homes Act 1983 (which will also have effect for Travellers) The consultation paper can be downloaded from us [PDF]. How to respond is at the back of the...
The times, they are a'changin
Yesterday, the Lands Tribunal - so beloved of those of us who practice in the field of leasehold property law - ceased to be. It has been replaced by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) which, confusingly, is known as... the Lands Tribunal. There is currently...
Article 6, outsourced reviews and bias.
The outsourcing of s.202 Housing Act 1996 reviews by local authorities to private, commercial bodies came under scrutiny in Charlotte Augustin v London Borough of Barnet, Central London County Court, 22 May 2009 (no report available online yet). There are a...