The Social Housing Law Association has released a 'Policy Statement' on the need for legal aid reform. Briefly, they claim that far too many weak cases are brought against social landlords by legally aided tenants and that the subsequent litigation costs to...
Ooops – disproportionate strike-out
A certain amount of amusement has been circulating around London housing firms at the Court of Appeal judgment in London Borough of Southwark -v- Onayomake [2007] EWCA Civ 1426 (Bailii link, or link to WLR case note here, but may only be briefly freely...
Convicted – Evicted
Raglan Housing Association Ltd v Fairclough [2007] EWCA Civ 1087. Basically, Housing Act 1988 Schedule 2 Ground 14 (b) means that if if you have been convicted of an indictable offence committed in, or in the locality of, the dwelling-house the discretionary...
Demoted Tenancies and Human Rights
Just a quick note on the Admin Court decision in Gilboy, R (on the application of) v Liverpool City Council & Anor [2007] EWHC 2335 (Admin). The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 modifies Housing Act 1985 and 1996 to allow a secure tenancy to be changed to a...
Overcrowding and homelessness
Right then, Harouki v Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea [2007] EWCA Civ 1000. The scene in a nutshell. A statutorily overcrowded household, in terms of Part 10 of the Housing Act 1985, s.326, which gives rise to a criminal offence under s.327 A homeless...
Busy, Busy, Busy
I'm flat out at the moment. Even my usual posting windows of a Saturday or Sunday have seen me either too tired or working to manage a post. So all I can manage is to point to two cases for Housing people's attention, to which I will return when I have time....
Homelessness and Ex Parte Injunctions – a warning
Mr Justice Munby has issued a stern statement on the use and abuse of ex-parte injunction applications to the Administrative Court in R (Lawer) v Restormel Borough Council [2007] EWHC 2299 (Admin). Covering failure to use the Pre-Action Protocol,...
Homeless with shared residence order
[Edit Feb 2008 - Richmond have been given permission to appeal this judgment to the House of Lords. No date yet.] An interesting situation, if perhaps an increasingly common one, has just been set out in the Court of Appeal case of Holmes-Moorhouse v London...
Reincarnation of Tenancy?
This is more of a question than a post, a question on a problem that I think I understand, but that I hope has a better conclusion than the one I've got to. The issue is when can a new tenancy be effectively said to have arisen after a Suspended Possession...
Do it yourself
A strong argument for not pursuing a case as a litigant in person can be found in this case. That said, hats off to the applicant for at least getting a Judicial Review hearing in person. Not least after turning up two hours late. There is an indication that...
Disability and tenancy – More on Malcolm
I posted on Lewisham v Malcolm ten days ago. Since then a couple of commentors have raised issues and Tessa has posted on the implications of the case at Landlord Law. So it seemed worth a further look. The caveat is that what follows is my understanding of...
Quantum in Disrepair
I've been meaning to post on this for a while and have been prodded into life by quite a few searchers on the topic. The reason I've been delaying is that, frankly, it is a bit of a sod. Unlike the carefully calculated, quantified, actuarialised and...