On the back of tonight's Panorama on the BBC about the impact of the mortgage/price housing market problems (available for the next week on iplayer), the Beeb has an interview with and tips from DJ Stephen Gould of Kingston-upon-Thames County Court. All...
Interim Accommodation and Judicial Review
Lusamba, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Islington [2008] EWHC 1149 (Admin) concerned a judicial review application on failure to decide on provision of interim accommodation pending review of a negative s.184 HA 1996 decision. It raises...
Duty to protect update 1
Update on this case from Friday 24 May. No judgment available yet that I have seen, but there is a further new story on the Hounslow case at 24dash.com, which gives a few more details. Specifically, the negligent failure found was that housing did not invoke...
A duty to protect?
A case is reported in the Guardian which apparently extends local authorities' duty to protect tenants from third parties to include vulnerable adults, not only children. A couple, both with learning difficulties, were terrorised in their flat by a group of...
Caravan sites and Tomlin orders
A couple of interesting permission to appeal hearings have appeared on Bailii. Permission granted in both cases for Court of Appeal hearing. Lee v Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council [2008] EWCA Civ 523 concerns whether a Local Authority should have...
Wondering about McCann
Well, McCann v UK certainly seems to have stirred things up. Naturally, most of the speculation is on the effect and extent of the judgment. I'm still trying to work out for myself what the likely or even possible effects are, so this is a work in progress....
Snippets
A few bits and pieces... Gilboy v Liverpool CC has a hearing at the Court of Appeal on 19 or 20 May (thanks J and GCN). Doherty v Birmingham is at the House of Lords later this year, which should be a big test for the legacy, if any, of McCann (thanks J,...
Possession and human rights – blimey!
Just when, post Kay v Lambeth in the Lords, it looked like the issue of human rights defences to possession claims was pretty much settled (i.e. there pretty much weren't any), the ECtHR has decided to put a large stick in the spokes. As many people have...
Letting repossessed property
As a follow-up to the mortgage repossession post below, I've just spotted a sad story on Landlord Law blog. Tessa had a case in which private tenants discovered, when the bailiffs turned up, that the property they had just rented was subject to a mortgage...
When does enforceability end?
Or, to be precise, when does a Suspended Possession Order for rent arrears cease to be enforceable? In broad terms, the answer is clear - when all sums due under the order have been paid off. But when is that? After Marshall v Bradford MC, it is vital for a...
Mortgage possessions – Gordon feels your pain
Mortgage repossessions are rising at the fastest rate since 1991. According to the MoJ quarterly figures [pdf]: Possession claims in the first quarter of 2008 were 38,688, 7% more than in the last quarter of 2007. The rise over the last year was 16%. 27,530...
Cardiff homeless – tactical lessons?
Thanks to Housed and Garden Court's bulletin for the pointer to this Ombudsman's report [pdf] on Cardiff's failure to provide temporary accommodation pending enquiries on what was a prima facie case of 'not reasonable to remain' homelessness. Cardiff were...