Grateful thanks to September 2019 edition of Legal Action - Housing: recent developments for this one. Whale and others v Maunder Taylor and Northwood Hall RTM Company Ltd, County Court at Central London, May 2019 Mr Maunder Taylor was an FTT-appointed...
Warrants of possession – fresh grounds and Equality Act defences
Where a landlord already has a possession order for rent arrears, but then seeks a warrant also on the basis of anti-social behaviour, the usual route has been for the landlord to ask the court to consider whether the warrant should be stayed in light of the...
HMRC propose to fine tenants for not paying their landlord’s tax.
No, really. I'm not being melodramatic. Not all tenants, and not all landlords, granted, but that is exactly what HMRC say may be done. This is all about non-resident landlords, living overseas for more than 6 months a year. HMRC are (quite possibly rightly)...
Banned leader
Look, look! A banning order! I don't know if this is the first, it may well be. It is certainly the first decision I have seen. 43 Dudmaston, Telford, Shropshire TF3 2DF: BIR/00GF/HSH/2019/0001 This is the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) decision on...
Injunctions, evictions and unrepresented parties
Brown v Tyndale (2019) QBD (Robert Francis QC) 25/07/2019 (unreported, but note of extempore judgment on lawtel) The kind of thing that happens when neither party is represented... In December 2018, Mr Brown had obtained an ex parte injunction against Mr...
Rent Repayment Orders – who is the landlord?
Our grateful thanks to Alasdair McClenahan of Justice for Tenants for a copy of this decision and his notes. Mrs Elanga Longane et al v Frank Mukahanana and Wealth Harbour Consulting Ltd LON/00AH/HMG/2018/0002 (Copy of decision) This FTT decision on a rent...
Updated section 21 flowchart
I've had a go at updating the section 21 validity flow chart. It now incorporates the effect of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (which turned out to be more complicated to do than I thought - I think it works, but constructive criticism welcome), and updates notes...
Whose windows are these?
As should be well known, when it comes to landlord's repairing responsibilities, an awful lot depends on the wording of the tenancy agreement. See for example, Welsh v Greenwich LBC (2001) 33 HLR 40 CA line of cases where a tenancy clause committing the...
In the county courts – succession, possession and warrants
Our thanks to the Housing: Recent Developments team in the July/August Legal Action for notes on these two cases. Lambeth LBC v Casey County Court at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch, 5 June 2019 Ms C had succeeded to the tenancy of a two bedroom flat. Lambeth...
Possession and licensing in Wales
Does failing to be licensed under The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 prevent a landlord from serving any notice seeking possession, or just a section 21 notice? That was the issue in a county court appeal in Evans & Evans v Jarvis, County Court at Swansea, 20...
We need to talk about claims farmers…
This is something I've been mulling over for a while, and have sounded off about in conversations, but the ongoing proliferation of housing disrepair claims farmers (and associated solicitors) has pushed me to go public with something of a rant. A justified...
The heavens rejoice – Sale and rent back and proprietary estoppel
Sahota v Prior & Anor (2019) EWHC 1418 (Ch) Just a short note, but worth it, because every angel in heaven sings when a 'sale and rent back' set up comes to grief Briefly, Mr & Mrs Prior bought their home 35 years ago. At some point, they got into...