Dudley Metropolitan Council v Mailley (2023) EWCA Civ 1246 We first saw this very sad case on first instance in the High Court - our note here. Ms Mailley was defending possession of a Dudley property of which her late mother had been the secure tenant since...
Varying a possession order from discretionary to mandatory ground
Poplar HARCA v Kerr. Central London County Court 26 July 2023. (Unreported. Judgment here.) This was a county court appeal to a circuit judge on the issue of whether a pre-existing suspended possession order, made on a discretionary ground, could be varied...
Section 21 and Gas Safety – post start of tenancy installations
Our grateful thanks to Noah Gifford of Pallant Chambers for the following note of a County Court judgment on the endlessly vexed issue of gas safety records and section 21 notices. (We've seen the judgment). This time, the issue is the requirements when a...
Tales from the County Courts – housing conditions quantum, proof of notice of defects, and section 21 and gas safety certificates again
Three county court cases - all first instance judgments and non-binding, but each of interest, including the first two fitness for human habitation decisions that have come our way and a complicating decision on gas safety certificates and section 21...
What Katrina did (or didn’t do) next.
Regular readers will no doubt recall this remarkable case, in which Notting Hill Genesis sought and obtained a freezing injunction against a disbarred barrister, Katrina McCarthy for tortiously inducing a breach of contract by getting NHG's tenant to pay the...
Thin gruel, delayed expectations, and welcome absences – the King’s Speech
A couple of case reports are on the go, but maybe significantly delayed, I'm working up to moving house next week, and physically and mentally, everything is all over the place and probably in the wrong box. But we have to note the King's Speech and the...
Abolition of section 21 – not anytime soon says Government
After a lot of concern that the Bill was going to be lost, the Government announced that the second reading of the Renters (Reform) Bill will take place on Monday 23 October, so enabling it to be carried forward into the next parliamentary session after the...
Rent increase and creation of a new tenancy
Our thanks to Haroon Sarwar of TV Edwards and Marina Sergides of Garden Court for the details of this county court possession case. Tower Hamlets Community Housing v The personal representative of Joseph Desir & Ors. County Court at Clerkenwell &...
Be still, my beating heart – new ‘How to Rent’ Guide
A new version of the How to Rent Guide was released today, 2 October 2023. This needs to be given to the tenant on all new and replacement tenancies (including on statutory periodic arising) from today onwards. NB - 'given' means a physical copy given to the...
A couple of possession related appeals
Reading Borough Council v Holland (2023) EWHC 1902 (Ch) An appeal of a possession order made at first instance for Ms Holland's introductory tenancy of sheltered accommodation. Ms H was found by an expert report in the original proceedings to have...
Return of deposit by cheque – Definitely maybe.
Richworth Ltd v Billingham (2023) EW Misc 8 (CC) Over the years we've seen a number of county court decisions on the issue of when a deposit counts as returned for the purposes of being able to serve a section 21 notice (see here and the links in that...
‘Court rent accounts’, McKenzie Friends and allegedly inducing breach of contract.
I was going to finish off a very overdue post on a very interesting s.204 appeal on suitability, but that will have to wait - maybe tomorrow - because my jaw has just dropped on seeing this case report from Landmark Chambers. Let me just outline what has...