Smith v Khan (2018) EWCA Civ 1137 Well! It is not often that an illegal eviction case gets to the Court of Appeal, let alone on the tenant’s appeal. But that is what we have here. There are some useful bits along the way, the correction of some errant views in the lower courts, and […]
Category Archives: Possession
All possession related posts
On the Naughty Step – ‘Accommodation Clubs’
To misquote Groucho Marx, you really don’t want to belong to any such club that would have you as a member. I’ve been hearing about these set ups for a while. They seem to be the latest thing in bloody stupid ‘get rich quick from residential property that someone else owns’ ideas. Now one of them […]
Automatic discharge of suspended possession order – it depends
Armstrong v Ashfield District Council (2018) EWCA Civ 873 Where a suspended possession order has provided for a future date of discharge, does that take effect even when the landlord has applied for a warrant on breach of terms in the interim and those proceedings are ongoing? Mr A was the secure tenant of Ashfield DC. […]
‘Things not to do’ corner – Deposit protection counterclaim edition
Wood v Arkley, County Court at Bradford, 15 March 2018 Our grateful thanks to counsel Vilma Vodanovic and solicitor Nawaz Zeb of Foundation for the note of judgment. A section 21 possession claim by the landlord Wood was met with a defence and counterclaim on the basis that that the prescribed information had not been […]
On a Housing Court and (not) making things simpler.
A specialist Housing Court is in the air. Sajid Javid, Minister for Housing. Communities and Local Government, has repeatedly mentioned ‘discussions’ with the judiciary on a housing court, ever since the last Tory conference in October. There has been no mention of any progress – and surely progress would have to involve the MoJ, not […]
How late it was, how late
On the death of a tenant (without successor, if there is a possible succession) section 18 Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994 provides: “Notices affecting land: service on personal representatives before filing of grant. (1) A notice affecting land which would have been authorised or required to be served on a person but for his […]
Possession and section 11, Children Act 2004
In Davies v Hertfordshire CC [2018] EWCA Civ 379, the Court of Appeal addressed the question of the relevance of s 11, Children Act 2004 on a mandatory possession claim brought by Herts against Mr Davies, a former school caretaker living in tied accommodation with his wife and four children. Herts claimed mandatory possession on service […]
‘Can’t Pay..’ will have to pay.
Ali and Aslam v Channel 5 Broadcast Ltd (2018) EWHC 298 (Ch) I won’t go into detail – do read the judgment for the oddest mashup of housing law, media law and privacy law we have encountered (so far) – but suffice it to say that a husband and wife evicted by High Court Sheriffs […]
I can serve this only once – gas safety certificates
Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz. Central London County Court. 2 February 2018 (from note of judgment) First our thanks to Matthew Cannings of 3 Paper Buildings for note of judgment and Richard Cherry of 33 Bedford Row for details (counsel for appellant and respondent, respectively). This was an appeal to a circuit judge of […]
News bits
A post on a significant gas certificate/s.21 case will follow shortly, but for now a couple of news items… Regulations have been made bringing the Homelessness Reduction Act into force on 3 April 2018. The Statutory Code of Guidance has not yet been released, so everyone will have to hope that there aren’t many changes […]
