Background. Another disrepair case against a private landlord. Another successful application for default judgement, granted about 6 months ago. Solid evidence. All the directions for quantum hearing complied with by us, to nil response from the landlord....
Divorce for the unmarried.
Interesting to see the Government publicising proposals for setting up property distribution mechanisms for ex-cohabiting couples somewhat ahead of the Law Commission's final report. The Guardian's paper account, if not its online report, compared the...
Don't get too oppositional
Tessa Shepperson, in an introduction to a Q&A makes a sound point that I think those of us who spend much of their time opposing local authorities tend to forget, which is that the Local Council's tenancy relation services, environmental or housing advice...
Assured trespassers?
[Amended 21 October] After a comment from Olamide Sanni, and a significant number of visitors from housing associations/social landlords turning up in my logs, it is clear that there is a big grey area for tolerated trespassers and the effect of Bristol CC....
How not to be a landlord
From a recent case, a fairly textbook example of how not to go about things as a private landlord. The client was a shorthold assured tenant, with a years' assured period and a monthly rent. Rent was paid by housing benefit, and the inevitable problems arose...
Postponing Possession. Are you now and have you always been a tenant?
So, tolerated trespassers, where were we? Ah yes. The Court has the power, under s.85(2) Housing Act 1985, to postpone the date of possession of an existing Suspended Possession Order for any period it sees fit even if the conditions of the SPO have been...
Tolerated trespassers: A Luta Continua
As previously pointed out, it was never going to be easy dealing with the great host of tolerated trespassers left in the wake of Harlow v Hall. But the variation in local authority policy in regard to their TTs is immense. Some authorities more or less...
Tolerated Trespassers – the aftermath
[Edit. As it turned out, this was part 1 of a continuing series. See the bottom of the post] Little of this is likely to come as a surprise to anyone involved in housing law, but the after effects of Harlow DC v Hall [2006] EWCA Civ 156 rumble on. It is...
EU Citizen and Homeless?
There was briefly a loophole. If, somehow, an EU citizen in England was on Income Support and became homeless, there was a way they could be eligible for housing assistance from local authorities under the Homelessness (England) Regulations 2000, because...