Now that the new pre-action protocols are sort of available, and have been in force since 6 April 2015 even when they were not available, people are having a look at them. And coming up with some issues. The new Pre-action Protocol for Possession Claims by...
No duty of care in allocation decisions
Darby (administratrix of the estate of Lee Rabbetts deceased) v Richmond Upon Thames LBC [2015] EWHC 909 (QB) [Not on Bailii, we've seen the judgment]. Can a council's failure to carry out its responsibilities under its allocation scheme be the subject of a...
Discretionary Housing Payments – the trouble with DLA.
Hardy, R (on the application of) v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council [2015] EWHC 890 Oh, we have been waiting for this one. According to DWP survey evidence, some 75% of Councils take Disability Living Allowance into account as income when deciding on an...
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...
Shared care isn’t occupation as a home.
A short Upper Tribunal decision has put an end to bedroom tax appeals based on the 'part-time' residence of a child of a separated family with shared care. MR v North Tyneside Council and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Housing and council tax...
Disrepair damages update
With very grateful thanks to Beatrice Prevatt’s annual disrepair update in the December 2014/January 2015 Legal Action, here is a bumper pack of County Court cases and settled cases on damages for disrepair. Armes v Wheel Property Co Ltd, Clerkenwell and...
Hot, hot, hot
Here is an interesting First Tier Tribunal bedroom tax appeal decision from Bexleyheath. [Decision notice]. It is a decision made after the Fife Upper Tribunal decision, but upholds the tenant's appeal on the basis, in part, that the room is inadequately...
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...
Not quite, Minister
Following the Upper Tribunal judgment in SSWP v David Nelson and Fife Council, SSWP v James Nelson and Fife Council [2014] UKUT 0525 (AAC) [our report], the DWP has issued a Circular - HB U6/2014 The thing is that it isn't quite right, in some quite...
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...
The elephant in the bedroom
Finally, the long awaited Upper Tribunal decision on room size and the bedroom tax has been released. A copy of the decision can be downloaded here. SSWP v David Nelson and Fife Council, SSWP v James Nelson and Fife Council [2014] UKUT 0525 (AAC) And the...