May's Legal Action housing reports, as compiled by Jan Luba QC and HHJ Madge, are positively bursting with interesting stuff. Pretty much all the High Court/Court of Appeal cases and some of the rest have already been reported here. But there are more than a...
Regulating renting proposals
I'm just in the process of marking what feels like thousands of coursework essays on proprietary estoppel and constructive trusts. The thing that gets me - time for a rant - is that my very clever three As students can't actually write a proper sentence,...
Adverse possession of a highway
Can you acquire title to land over which a highway runs? There seems to be no reason in principle why not but R (Smith) v Land Registry (Peterborough) [2009] EWHC 328 (Admin) — wrongly in my view — suggests otherwise. The Claimant had occupied land with his...
On the horizon
The Court of Appeal yesterday heard argument in Redpath v Swindon Borough Council B2/2009/0479. The case concerns the definition and scope of "housing management functions" for the purposes of ASBIs under s.153A, Housing Act 1996. We'll bring you the result...
But I was getting Jobseekers…
R (Prince) v Social Security Commissioners & SoS for the DWP & London Borough of Southwark (Interested parties)[2009] EWHC 1181 (Admin) concerns what can only be described as a bit of a chancer. Mr Prince had claimed Jobseekers Allowance. He had also claimed...
Age Assessment and Medical Reports
Apologies for not getting this one out on Friday or over the weekend. It was on my list, but, frankly, the details of this were off my usual turf and it took an hour or several to digest and fit in place. So, only a day or so late... A v London Borough of...
The Equality Bill
A new Equality Bill was a flagship manifesto commitment and it was finally published at the end of April. The Bill receives its second reading in the House of Commons today. While the Bill is primarily consolidating and tidying up existing law there are...
Such Sweet Surrender
I'd missed this case from a couple of months ago and it would be fair to say it doesn't concern our usual kind of tenancy - the rent was £390,000 a year and complaints of disrepair concerned a malfunctioning swimming pool - but it does address the conditions...
O(L)ivers Army
Defence Estates v L and another, High Court (Administrative Court, Collins J, 5.5.09) [2009] All ER (D) 20 (May) is - potentially - quite an important case on the ongoing Qazi/Kay/Doherty/Connors/McCann/Cosic debate about the role of Article 8 in possession...
The importance of not being earnest
Via a somewhat convoluted route, we have received news of a cautionary tale from Croydon. Consider it an illustration of the need to use conditional language when writing about something which is supposed to happen but which is outside of your control. It is...
Outsourced temporary accommodation
Many local authorities use private accommodation for temporary accommodation under Housing Act 1996 Part VII. This may be by an LA ALMO 'managing agency', on which more at another time, or by licence agreements with private agencies. One of the latter came...
Outright orders and drug offences
Knowsley Housing Trust v Prescott & Prescott [2009] EWHC 924 (QB) Mr & Mrs Prescott were the assured tenants of Knowsley Housing Trust and had been since 2002. On 11 April 2006, Mr Prescott pleaded guilty to charges relating to the supply of cocaine...