We wouldn't usually cover a PI case here on NL, but Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039 has - and is intended to have - implications far beyond PI. The case itself was an appeal arising out of a road traffic accident. The Recorder had awarded damages...
Trespassers and Article 8
Seek and ye shall find. Thanks to Lindsay Johnson of Doughty Street Chambers we now have a transcript of the decision in Malik v (1) Persons Unknown, (2) Reynolds (3) Matthews (0UB00913, Central London County Court, HHJ Walden-Smith). Mr Malik was the...
Discharging leasehold covenants
Restrictive covenants are, in broad terms, contractual restrictions imposed on the current user/owner of land, often imposed by a former owner of the same land (e.g. Mr A sells a field to Mr B, but includes a covenant preventing Mr B from building flats on...
Barnet’s brave new dawn
And, like a sudden, startling and slightly embarrassing squeak from a vinyl sofa, flexible tenancies are here! London Borough of Barnet have announced, in a manner which suggests absolutely no political motivation behind the decision at all, the 'end of the...
Refusing irrationally
May, R (on the application of) v Birmingham City Council [2012] EWHC 1399 (Admin) When can a Local Authority refuse to accept an application as homeless? This was a judicial review of Birmingham City Council's refusal to accept a homeless application by the...
Deckchairs/Titanic: New Allocations Code
The new allocation code of guidance was published by DCLG today - it had been trailed a little and the smiling face of Grant Shapps appears in a Murdoch rag today (he tweeted the story this morning). There are some interesting snippets in it but, in truth,...
The Cold Renormalisation
Liverpool City Council v Kassim [2011] UKUT 169 (LC) A thank you to the EHP who brought our attention to this case. The full decision is also available as a pdf at the end of their post until the Lands Tribunal catches up. Mr Kassim owns a rented flat. It...
The Norwegian Blue
Lindheim and others v Norway 13221/08 & 2139/10 is a case about leasehold enfranchisement, Norwegian style. I wanted to cover it because it might have some relevance to domestic enfranchisement law* and because there are references to a proportionality...
Introductory tenancies and s129 reviews – no conditions please
London Borough of Camden v Stafford [2012] EWCA Civ 839 This case revolves around the question of whether a review under s129 Housing Act 1996 does or doesn't uphold the original decision to serve a notice. In particular, when the decision may state that the...
Double plus ungood
The lovely, smiling Grant Shapps, Housing Minister, who clearly in no way whatsoever wants to distract attention from the recent kerfuffle over his alleged misleading of Parliament through dodgy use of statistics (hereafter Shapptistics), has announced the...
Judicial review of a closed minded appeal
Sharing, R (on the application of) v Preston County Court [2012] EWHC 515 (Admin) [Updated 20 June 2012 to make clear this was a permission to appeal decision, not an appeal hearing] This is by any measure an unusual case. It is a judicial review of the...
New LVT procedural rules: a consultation
It's been promised for a while now. The merger of the LVT (in its various forms, RAC, RPT, etc) into the Tribunal Service as a First Tier Tribunal. And so we finally have the details. In Consultation on proposed new (First Tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber)...