In Home Group v Matrejek [2015] EWHC 441 (QB), the High Court has applied Rule 3.9 of the Civil Procedure Rules and the guidance on applications for relief from sanctions in Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906 (our note here) to a possession claim...
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...
ECtHR Update
Anthony Aquilina v Malta 11/12/14 This is the latest in a line of judgements from the ECtHR dealing with rent control and Article 1 of Protocol 1 (see previous reports here and here). Mr A was the owner of a property in Malta, which he had inherited from his...
The revenge of retaliatory eviction law
After the Teather 'revenge eviction' member's bill was talked out by a couple of Tory MPs, (Chope and Davis), the question was would the proposals survive in another form before the election. Well today, the DCLG announced the Government's proposed...
Just because you are paranoid…
... doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you. The MoJ and Legal Aid Agency have put out a leaflet on Legal aid and "Help for people at risk of losing their home". The trouble is that it doesn't mention, anywhere, at all, not even in little small print,...
Asking for relief
This is a housing case, but the procedural issue in this decision is only tangentially related to that. Nonetheless, it is a matter worth noting. Cutler v Barnet LBC [2014] EWHC 4445 (QB) [Not on Bailii yet, we've seen a transcript]. Ms C had been Barnet's...
Too late for Art 8?
When should an article 8 defence be raised? And are there different kinds of social landlords, such that the analysis of Article 8 defences in Pinnock and Powell might not be applicable to all? These were questions in Lawal & Anor v Circle 33 Housing...
Of Penalties and Possession
Charalambous & Anor v Maureen Rosairie Ng & Anor [2014] EWCA Civ 1604 The Court of Appeal has again thrown the cat among the tenancy deposit protection pigeons. In Charalambous it had to grapple with the, admittedly fairly rare scenario, of a deposit...
Conscious Re-coupling and Succession
In R (Turley) v LB Wandsworth , the Claimant was the partner of the late Mr Doyle, who was the secure tenant of a property at Battersea Park Rd, London, SW8 from 1995 until his death on 17/3/2012. Mr D and Ms T had 4 children together and they lived at the...
Shared ownership – new guidance
The CML, NHF, HCA, BSA have produced new guidance on handling arrears and possession sales of shared ownership properties (the previous guidance was in 2010 and the contact details provided were out of date). I am not sure that there is a huge difference...
Human Rights Round-Up Part 2
Lemo and others v Croatia [2014] ECHR 755 (10/7/2014) Both the facts and the outcome in this case are highly reminiscent of Brezec v Croatia (see our note here). The applicants had occupied flats under protected tenancies from the 1970s until their eviction...