If the case-law is to be believed, local authorities have a hard enough time introducing selective licensing schemes as it is (see R (Peat) v Hyndburn and R (Regas) v Enfield)). Well, the government has published a draft SI designed to make it even harder....
Part 7 and capacity
R (MT) v Oxford CC, High Ct, (Lawtel note only as far as I can tell) is an interesting little case on capacity and homelessness Mr MT lacks capacity and is unable to manage his housing or financial affairs. He (or, I suspect, his father who was also his...
Expectations are not existing facts.
Enfield LBC v Najim (2015) CA (Civ Div) 04/03/2015 [Note on Lawtel and here. Not on Bailii yet] This was Enfield's appeal from a s.204 appeal quashing Enfield's decision and review decision that Ms N was intentionally homeless. Ms N had a one year assured...
The judicial review of regulations on funding judicial review
Ben Hoare Bell Solicitors & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v The Lord Chancellor [2015] EWHC 523 (Admin) The legal aid funding regulations for judicial reviews, in effect from April 2014, were the subject of this judicial review. To cut to the chase, the...
Miscellaneous
Assorted things of note. The closing date for applications for the Tower Hamlets Law Centre Housing Solicitor post has been extended to 11 March 2015. Southend have been refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in Southend v Amour (our report on the...
Ending flexible tenancies – a reminder
We don't usually (indeed ever) repost previous material on NL. But I'm making an exception for this one, because I think it is timely. Flexible tenancies have been in existence for a while in some boroughs and I would expect that it is round about now that...
Bedroom tax and sanctuary schemes
A quick note to record that the judicial review of the bedroom tax regulations as being discriminatory on the basis that a 'panic room' equipped for domestic violence victims was classed as a 'spare bedroom' failed. The judgment does not appear to be on...
Southwark gatekeeping: All of the wrong
R(Anon) v LB Southwark (Claim No CO/2035/2014 - settled by consent) Courtesy of Hansen Palomares Solicitors comes news of this settled Judicial Review of LB Southwark's gatekeeping practices on homeless applications. It appears, to put it mildly, that...
Illegal occupation is no bar to adverse possession
Best, R (On the Application Of) v The Secretary of State for Justice (Rev 1) [2015] EWCA Civ 17 The Court of Appeal considered the clash of s.144 LASPO and the rules on adverse possession, on appeal from the Administrative Court. Our report on the Admin...
A new approach to improvements
Waaler v LB Hounslow [2015] UKUT 17 (LC) The background to this case is quite familiar to anyone who has been dealing with local authority leasehold service charge disputes over the last few years. Hounslow embarked upon a scheme of major works on an estate...
Violent Conduct and Homelessness
A brief note on Hussain v LB Waltham Forest [2015] EWCA Civ 14, which concerns the definition of 'other violence' in s.177(1) of the Housing Act 1996. In Yemshaw v LB Hounslow [2011] UKSC 3, the Supreme Court held that 'violence' under s.177(1) included...
Zambrano carers and social assistance
There must be times when Court of Appeal judges think that they have bit parts in an ongoing drama - they have a walk on role. And that must be how the Court felt in Sanneh v SSWP and others [2015] EWCA Civ 49, which concerns the eligibility rules for...