As ever, housing cases come in a flood after a drought. Jones v London Borough of Merton [2008] EWCA Civ 660 on when liability for mesne profits ends after the tolerated trespasser leaves a property. Hanoman v London Borough of Southwark [2008] EWCA Civ 624...
When does enforceability end?
Or, to be precise, when does a Suspended Possession Order for rent arrears cease to be enforceable? In broad terms, the answer is clear - when all sums due under the order have been paid off. But when is that? After Marshall v Bradford MC, it is vital for a...
Hey, you asked 2
More brief but hopefully helpful replies to the civil litigation and housing questions that brought searchers to Nearly Legal. As ever, nothing of what follows should be taken as legal advice and no action should be taken without obtaining full legal advice....
Post mortem revival of tenancy
This is an interesting case that I missed when it came out on Bailii a couple of months ago. It has just been mentioned in Legal Action, so I went to have a look. Austin v London Borough of Southwark [2007] EWHC 355 (QB) concerned an attempt to revive a...
Friday News round-up
The debate on the Housing and Regeneration Bill on 31 March saw clauses on both Ground 8 Possession and tolerated trespassers put forward by the Government. Clause 9 appears to stop RSLs using ground 8 at all and to introduce a reasonableness defence in...
HLPA almost live.
As an experiment, nearly live blogging from the HLPA AGM fell foul of having my mobile turned off. So this is 'on the way home from HLPA' blogging instead. Useful talks on Housing Benefit, particularly on the new Local Housing Allowance, in force from 7...
Nothing for the weekend
It is about time for a break - 13 detailed posts in the last two weeks, coupled with a frantic time at work, has left me lacking oomph, as devoid of oomph as an omphless thing on a bad day. So there will be nothing more here until after the holiday weekend....
Payne-less
Porter v Shepherds Bush Housing Association [2008] EWCA Civ 196 is a Court of Appeal judgment on an appeal of an application for revival of tenancy where all the arrears were paid off on a breached suspended possession order. The Court of Appeal was...
Oh for heaven's sake!
So, I have a very busy day, with no time for any considering of judgments. Nonetheless, I am puzzling over the import of a couple of recent decisions for some clients. Then, on the way home, scanning printouts of the cases, what does my mobile's web browser...
Permanent trespassers – a fan letter
A very interesting case report and article by James Stark of Garden Court North in the current Legal Action (March 2008) presents a possible solution to the permanent trespasser problem, at least in part. Permanent trespassers are those who have paid off the...
Time limitation on disability discrimination defence?
This is definitely a specialist question, for which I seek housing people's opinions. A semi-hypothetical situation: A suspended possession order made against the client, a secure tenant, two years ago on grounds of rent arrears. Client didn't attend...
Hey, you asked…
For some of us internet old timers, who were on usenet before the WWW existed and were hand coding websites in the mid 1990s, it is still a surprise how people treat search engines as something to put a fully fledged question into. January has been a bumper...