We first noted Defence Estates v L and another [2009] EWHC 1049 (Admin) a few weeks ago and now the transcript is available. The history L was married to an army officer. He was a violent alcoholic who abused both his wife and their daughters. In 1989 he...
And now, the end is near
With grateful thanks to James Stark of Garden Court North and North West Housing Law Practitioners Group, we can pass on some news on the introduction of Schedule 11 Housing & Regeneration Act 2008 and the end of the tolerated trespasser. The SI should...
Tenancy Deposit – variations on a theme
Legal Action May 09 housing updates contain a few tenancy deposit cases, which further muddy the waters... Seghier v Rollings, Bow County Court, 6 March 2009. An assured shorthold beginning in May 2007. A deposit was paid by Mr Seghier to the letting agent...
Looking at it from all angles
Whitehouse v Lee [2009] EWCA Civ 375 is a rare beast – a successful appeal against a decision on reasonableness in the context of possession proceedings. However, it merits close attention not only for its rarity, but because it also reminds us of how to...
The Equality Bill
A new Equality Bill was a flagship manifesto commitment and it was finally published at the end of April. The Bill receives its second reading in the House of Commons today. While the Bill is primarily consolidating and tidying up existing law there are...
Such Sweet Surrender
I'd missed this case from a couple of months ago and it would be fair to say it doesn't concern our usual kind of tenancy - the rent was £390,000 a year and complaints of disrepair concerned a malfunctioning swimming pool - but it does address the conditions...
O(L)ivers Army
Defence Estates v L and another, High Court (Administrative Court, Collins J, 5.5.09) [2009] All ER (D) 20 (May) is - potentially - quite an important case on the ongoing Qazi/Kay/Doherty/Connors/McCann/Cosic debate about the role of Article 8 in possession...
The importance of not being earnest
Via a somewhat convoluted route, we have received news of a cautionary tale from Croydon. Consider it an illustration of the need to use conditional language when writing about something which is supposed to happen but which is outside of your control. It is...
Outright orders and drug offences
Knowsley Housing Trust v Prescott & Prescott [2009] EWHC 924 (QB) Mr & Mrs Prescott were the assured tenants of Knowsley Housing Trust and had been since 2002. On 11 April 2006, Mr Prescott pleaded guilty to charges relating to the supply of cocaine...
Request for info
Garden Court's bulletin of 27 April includes a case note, Thornhill v Sita Metal Recycling Cambridge Ltd [2009] All ER (D) 162, on nuisance, possession of and interest in land. The upshot being that the nature of a claimant's legal interest in land is by the...
Bits from LAG and nuisance & Art 8
There are several cases in the latest LAG updates that we haven't covered and that are interesting. Thanks as ever to Jan Luba QC and HHJ Nic Madge for the LAG reports. There are two brief notes on County Court cases and a more sizeable one on Dobson v...
Public Law Defence – an arguable case
McGlynn v Welwyn Hatfield District Council [2009] EWCA Civ 285 was an appeal of a summary possession that had been stayed pending Doherty in the Lords. Mr McGlynn was granted a non-secure tenancy by Welwyn in 2000, in pursuance of homelessness obligations...