Thomas v Lambeth LBC, County Court at Central London, 16 March 2017 This is a s.204 appeal in the County Court of a vulnerability decision by Lambeth. A copy of the transcript of judgment is here. Of particular interest is that the judgment concerns and...
Waiting for DCLG
During an exchange about the speech by the Secretary of State yesterday (more on that later I suspect - I'd quite like to do a conference round-up piece), it occured to me that there are an awful lot of actual housing law consultations that haven't had a...
Fitness for Habitation 2.0 – Q&A and call to arms
If you haven't already heard, Karen Buck MP got fourth place in the 2017 ballot for private members bills. And she has taken this opportunity to bring forward a new version of the 'Fitness for Habitation' Bill that was filibustered in 2015 (and then was...
Lionel Richie and housing law
It was the Nat Fed conference last week and I know many of our readers were there taking in the sights and experiences and nabbing free pens/drinks. I've never really enjoyed it. Not enough law for me. I'm also deeply sceptical of the Nat Fed after its...
An uncaring indifference to wrong and right
Behind every homelessness statistic sits a story - or, more accurately - 88410* stories. Stories of people fleeing violence or abusive relationships. Stories of people struggling with ill-health and addictions. Stories of care leavers being left to struggle...
Research project to identify and expose the legal gaps exposed by the Grenfell fire
The University of Bristol has been awarded a grant by Shelter to conduct a research project to identify and expose the legal gaps exposed by the Grenfell fire. This research project will use a survey method to address three objectives: To set out clearly the...
Sufficient Notice
Partridge v Gupta (2017) EWHC 2110 (QB) Those who have been readers of this blog for a while may recall our campaign about evictions by High Court Sheriffs where the writs were (wrongly) obtained as an administrative act by using form N293A. This culminated...
Dwelling in temporary accommodation
Dacorum Borough Council v Bucknall (aka Acheampong) [2017] EWHC 2094 (QB) When is temporary accommodation provided under the Housing Act 1996 Section 193(2) duty occupied 'as a dwelling' fo the purposes of Section 3 Protection from Eviction Act 1977? We know...
Illegal subletting – an ‘elaborate farrago of lies’
Poplar Housing & Regeneration Community Association Ltd v Begum & Ors [2017] EWHC 2040 (QB) We are no fans of illegal subletting of social housing here at NL. So here is an appeal by the landlord of a county court decision to grant a suspended...
Subletting and defamation – a novel approach
There is a queue of significant and serious cases waiting to be written up. For time and personal reasons, this may not happen for a while. Instead, here is an insignificant case of no wider importance, but possibly some entertainment value. Howell v South...
Cant Pay
It is rare, if we are entirely honest, for a First Tier Tribunal decision on service charges to be exciting. It is even rarer for there to be mystery and police raids, and "Immunity from Treason" notices, and debts of "Trillions of pounds", and something...
Not looked into enough to be unaware
Trindade v London Borough of Hackney (2017) EWCA Civ 942 A second appeal of a homeless decision that Ms T was intentionally homeless, on the issues of whether Ms T's actions were "an act or omission in good faith on the part of a person who was unaware of...