The Tenancies Reform Bill has now been formally published following its second reading. The Bill has changed substantially from the original version that was put forward by Sarah Teather MP and drafted by Shelter. We commented on the Bill before as we had...
Southwark: Not appealing
It is not unknown for losing parties in a case to not be happy, indeed very upset. There are two basic options. To shut up and put up with it, or appeal. Rather unusually, faced with one of the most coruscating High Court judgments I can recall, in AA V LB...
Penal notices and warrants
Lawtel had a short note on a case called Bank of Ireland v Shah and another (QBD, 20.11.14) this week and I was wondering if anyone knew any more about it. According to the note, the Bank had a possession order against Mr Shah arising out of a mortgage. When...
Angels Dancing on the Head of Anti-Social Behaviour
Telchadder v Wickland Holdings Ltd [2014] UKSC 57 I will admit to being a bit cool on static caravan parks. I used to live in an area surrounded by them and could never understand why people would want to holiday in them, much less live in them permanently....
Former relevant children who aren’t former relevant children
This is a quick note on a quite important case concerning duties owed to young people who are over 18 and who should have been, but in fact were not, provided with accommodation under s.20, Children Act 1989 prior to their 18th birthday. You may recall in R...
Errors, damn errors, and statistics: Ajilore v Hackney LBC
With the Supreme Court set to look at priority need this December, Ajilore v Hackney [2014] EWCA Civ 1273 may prove to be a brief footnote in the evolution of the bloated Pereira test. But, at least for the next four weeks, it tells us something about the...
Monk silenced
Sims v Dacorum Borough Council [2014] UKSC 63 If there is a positive to take from this, it is that it is a Supreme Court judgment that won't take long to discuss. The issue of the rule in Monk that notice by one joint tenant determines the whole tenancy came...
Shome mishtake shurely: The RLA discover a defence to s.21
[Update 26/11/204. Rather gloriously and hilariously rudely, the RLA have replied. Their response and an explanation of why they are shooting themselves in the foot is now at the end of this post] As the second reading of the Teather bill on retaliatory...
Elementary maths for LB Barnet
You will all recall that the Localism Act allowed Councils to grant flexible tenancies, at up to 80% of market rent. Now some councils have dipped their toes in the waters of flexible tenancies (here were my notes on one such policy), and this may well yet...
Human Rights Round-Up Part 1
Tijardovic v Croatia [2014] ECHR 637 (19/6/2014) Mrs T and her family occupied a flat in Split, Croatia, which her father-in-law had held under a specially protected tenancy with the Split Municipality, from 1983 onwards. Between 1985 and his death in 1998,...
A return of sanity: Allocation and reasonable preference
Jakimaviciute, R (On the Application Of) v Hammersmith And Fulham London Borough Council [2014] EWCA Civ 1438 Eligibility for allocation list, reasonable preference and homelessness. After a run of Court of Appeal housing decisions that might be mildly...
The Long and Winding Road
The facts in Nzolameso v Westminster CC are pretty unremarkable, but the effects of the Court of Appeal's judgement are likely to reverberate through every new homelessness application, especially in the London area. Ms N is a parent of five children, who...