A couple of County Court judgments - by HHJ Luba KC, as a circuit judge. Buckle up for a bumpy ride through the all too familiar county court landscape of erratic pleadings, lengthy delays and parties who rather mistakenly think that their own bluster and...
Landlords behaving badly
While the Magistrates Courts continue to hand out paltry fines to landlords on conviction for illegal eviction, despite the removal of the upper £5000 limit, it is good to see that the civil courts are capable of taking a more reasonable approach to quantum....
Unlawful eviction and harassment quantum update
With grateful thanks to Jan Luba QC and HHJ Madge's housing update in the December 2014/January 2015 Legal Action, here are a few recent County Court cases on unlawful eviction and harassment. Alabbas v Uppelle. Leicester County Court, 8 October 2014 Mr...
How much?! Damages for unlawfully evicted secure tenants
Loveridge v London Borough of Lambeth [2014] UKSC 65 So, if a local authority unlawfully evicts a secure tenant (and yes, it happens) what should the measure of damages be? Under s.27 and s.28 Housing Act 1988, damages fall to be assessed under a valuation...
How much is a secure tenancy worth?
London Borough of Lambeth v Loveridge [2013] EWCA Civ 494 We are appallingly late with this one, and have no excuse. But this case has just been given permission by the Supreme Court, so this is a good moment to make amends. Mr L was the secure tenant of...
More on more on damages
Or Simmons v Castle round two Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1288 As you may know, the original Court of Appeal decision in Simmons v Castle on the 10% uplift in general damages (our report here) was revisited after representations by the ABI and APIL. I'm...
The JP, the BBC trainee and the Unlawful Eviction
An unlawful eviction case with some unusual dramatis personae. Rebecca Claire Webb v Samina Amreen Birmingham County Court 31 August 2012 [Unreported elsewhere] Ms Webb was the assured shorthold tenant of Ms Amreen, for a 6 month term from September 2007...
Follow the money…
Henson v Blackwood & Blackwood. Mayors & City of London Court 29 June 2012 & Central London County Court 25 July 2012 [We are grateful to Dean Underwood of Hardwicke Chambers for his notes on this case, from which quotes are taken and to GT...