Via the High Court Enforcement Officers Association, comes sight of a letter from the Lord Chancellor to the HCEOA requesting that no evictions are carried out: a) where Tier 2 or Tier 3 restrictions are in place, and b) during the 11 December 2020 to 11...
The Parable of the Property Developer
Ruby Triangle Properties Ltd v Jesus Sanctuary Ministries Ltd (2020) EWHC 2247 (Ch) An unlawful eviction case, but not a residential one. A note because it is an interesting case of a badly behaved property developers, a church an a question over general...
Notes in passing
A couple of brief notes. In Opara v Olasemo (HOUSING - RENT REPAYMENT ORDER - unlawful eviction) (2020) UKUT 96 (LC), the Upper Tribunal corrected the First Tier Tribunal on its approach to the standard of proof on an illegal eviction and unlicensed HMO rent...
Oh! What a tangled web we weave…
Del Rio Sanchez v Simple Properties Management Limited. Central London County Court sitting at Oxford Combined Court. 24 February 2020 (Unreported elsewhere. Copy of judgment available here.) This is going to be quite long, I'm afraid, but this is such a...
Gypsies and Travellers – time for a rethink
Bromley LBC v Persons Unknown (Liberty, London Gypsies and Travellers, and numerous local authorities, intervening) (2020) EWCA Civ 12 Over the last few years, there has been a real growth in "all borough" injunctions against anticipated trespass by gypsies...
Rent Repayment Orders, criminal standard, and new evidence on appeal
Salva v Singh-Potiwal (HOUSING - HOUSE IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION) [2019] UKUT 307 (LC) This was the appeal of a First Tier Tribunal decision on Ms Salva's application for a rent repayment order. Ms Salva has a tenancy of a room in a property owned by Mr...
Tis the Season…
The new government's Queens Speech confirmed that there will be a Bill that will involve the ending of section 21 'no ground' possession procedure. This is something we've talked about before. It will be complicated, will involve new grounds of possession...
“General incompetence” – Unlawful eviction and fitness for habitation
Hussein Ali Hadi Albu-Swalin v (1) Regency (UK) Ltd (2) Heartland Property Ltd (2019) County Court at Central London. 19 February 2019 We saw the appeal in this case here. I have since received a transcript of the first instance judgment, which...
No going back
Regency (UK) Ltd v (1) Hussein Ali Hadi Albu-Swalin (2) Heartland Property Ltd (2019) QBD (Chamberlain J) 18/11/2019 (Note of extempore judgment on Lawtel) Regency had let flats to Heartland on the basis that Heartland would sublet to occupiers. Heartland...
Injunctions, evictions and unrepresented parties
Brown v Tyndale (2019) QBD (Robert Francis QC) 25/07/2019 (unreported, but note of extempore judgment on lawtel) The kind of thing that happens when neither party is represented... In December 2018, Mr Brown had obtained an ex parte injunction against Mr...
Getting Guidance wrong and the perils of not updating legislation
MHCLG recently (April 2019) put out a guidance document called "Landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities in the private rented sector". Under a heading "Guidance for tenants renting in the private sector: rights, responsibilities and advice", on page...
A Housing Court – MHCLG have some odd questions for you.
And so the promised 'call for evidence' on the need for and outline of a specialist Housing Court has come to pass. And, frankly, what an odd thing it is. First, the MCHLG press release is headed Except the one thing that is definitely not happening in this...