Malik v Fassenfelt & Ors [2013] EWCA Civ 798 The idea that an Englishman's home is his castle is firmly embedded in English folklore and it finds its counterpart in the common law of the realm which provides a remedy to enable the owner of the castle to...
Gateway B and Equality Act – summary hearing?
A quick note on an ongoing County Court case that raises some interesting questions. (As it is an ongoing case, all apparent statements of fact are as set out in the judgment and should be taken as being untested at trial). Leicester Housing Association Ltd...
Shared ownership, Art 8 and A1P1
The entrepreneurialisation of social housing over the last twenty years has led to a diversity in the types of shared ownership. Of course, the standard leasehold type (what in the old days was called DIYSO) predominates, but there are a multitude of other...
Article 8 success in the County Court
This was a failed succession case where an article 8 proportionality defence was, at least in part successful. Our thanks to Legal Action 'Recent Developments in Housing Law' January 2013 for bringing it to our attention. Affinity Sutton Homes Ltd v Cooper....
Request for information
[Updated 20/12/12. See below] There is a rather odd case note on Lawtel on a High Court appeal of a dismissed defence to possession following an apparently failed succession... Evans v Brent London Borough Council QB (Ramsey J) 18/12/2012 [note of extempore...
I think someone has got a little confused
According to this article, the Residential Landlords Association are up in arms about the European Court of Human Rights being about to rule on article 8 defences in a case affecting private land owners. Richard Jones, the RLA policy director (and a...
The Article 8 Toys Go Back in the Box
Thurrock Borough Council v West [2012] EWCA Civ 1435 The Court of Appeal has handed down judgement in a case that will probably come to characterise the operation of Article 8 in the daily life of the County Courts. Facts W's grandparents (or great...
Proportionality – between claim and hearing
Well, well. A successful proportionality defence on an introductory tenancy and one upheld on appeal. There is also some helpful confirmation about what can be considered in assessing proportionality. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council v Armour (2012) QBD...
Housing and Human Rights Round-Up
Two interesting cases have been delivered by the ECHR in the last few weeks: Mago and others v Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yordanova and others v Bulgaria. Mago The applicants in Mago held tenancies for life of flats within Bosnia-Herzegovina (with the exception...
The tenant is dead, long live the tenant
Our attention was drawn to a decision in the Medway County Court, presumably because it considered a proportionality defence. I'm not sure there's much to see there — one of the team said that he was not "remotely excited about it". But it caught my...
Proportionality, Section 21 and starter tenancies
Another RSL 'starter tenancy' and s.21 case, albeit one that marginally pre-dated West Kent HA v Haycraft, is The Riverside Group Limited - v – Sharon Thomas [2012] EWHC 169 (QB) 2 March 2012 (Manchester District Registry) [Not on Bailii. We've seen a...
Don’t Panic!
The Residential Landlords Association appears to have got its collective knickers in a bit of a twist over proportionality. According to its press release and a report on 24dash, the RLA has suddenly decided that Powell v Houslow presents a dramatic threat...