Al Ahmed v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (2020) EWCA Civ 51 We saw the High Court in this case take an incredibly strict approach to homelessness section 204 appeal timescales (our report), deciding that seeking legal aid representation could not be a good...
Deposit penalties – factors on culpability. Sort of.
Davies v Scott, 24 October 2019, Mayors & City County Court . HHJ Saggerson (Unreported, we've seen a note of judgment) This was a county court appeal on a failure to protect deposit claim. We saw the first instance decision on this case here. This was...
A very short consultation
The UT(LC) is consulting on a new Practice Direction for appeals and cases in the UT. The draft appears to have gone online on 20 January 2020 and the deadline is 31 January 2020. You can find it here. If you have a few moments then it's very much worth...
Gypsies and Travellers – time for a rethink
Bromley LBC v Persons Unknown (Liberty, London Gypsies and Travellers, and numerous local authorities, intervening) (2020) EWCA Civ 12 Over the last few years, there has been a real growth in "all borough" injunctions against anticipated trespass by gypsies...
Rent Repayment Orders, criminal standard, and new evidence on appeal
Salva v Singh-Potiwal (HOUSING - HOUSE IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION) [2019] UKUT 307 (LC) This was the appeal of a First Tier Tribunal decision on Ms Salva's application for a rent repayment order. Ms Salva has a tenancy of a room in a property owned by Mr...
Electrical safety checks – soon with added regulation
The draft of The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 has been laid in Parliament. The regs require a resolution of each house, so this will not be an immediate approval, but should be soon - it looks like the...
“I know it gives a person pause”
Camelot! Camelot! I know it gives a person pause But in Camelot, Camelot Those are the legal laws Camelot Guardian Management Ltd previously pleaded guilty to 15 charges for failing to licence an HMO and for multiple breaches of HMO management regulations in...
Tenancy deposit – unserved prescribed information
Liaw v Sohal. Central London County Court, 10 January 2019. (unreported elsewhere, we've seen the approved judgment). A county court first instance deposit claim decision, but with elements of interest and broader relevance (as well as some lessons to...
New Pre-Action Protocols coming! Social Possession and Housing Conditions.
[Update 13 Jan. The new protocols are out and in force today - Housing Disrepair (England), and Social Landlord Possession Claims ] Be still my beating heart, there will be two new/revised pre-action protocols on 13 January 2020. There will be a revised...
On not being entitled to make decisions, let alone wrong ones
Holding And Management (Solitaire) Ltd v Miller (LANDLORD AND TENANT - SERVICE CHARGES) (2019) UKUT 402 (LC) An Upper Tribunal appeal decision where just about everything that could have been wrong about the first instance First Tier Tribunal decision was....
I wanna be your dog
I was listening to the Stooges this morning, drinking my tea and wondering if I could postpone those DIY tasks for just a little bit longer, when a Twitter post from Robert Jenrick MP (Sec of State for Housing) popped into view. The Minister proudly...
Improper purposes
First, a quick erratum to yesterday's post on upcoming housing law. The post had wrongly stated that the 1 June 2020 Tenant Fees Act changes would mean repaying deposits of over five weeks rent on pre 1 June 2019 tenancies. That is not the case, so long as...