“Liz Davies explains that, although the courts may be able to help a few individuals, we need to step up the political battle.”
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 17th October 2013
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
“It is now almost 6 months since the Brave New World of Jackson. This article considers the impact (if any) the reforms and stated ‘culture change’ have had, and are likely to have, upon those practising housing law.”
Zenith Chambers, 15th October 2013
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
“The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act comes into force tomorrow (Tuesday 15 October 2013) in England only. The text of the Act is here. A key point is the introduction of ‘Unlawful Profit Orders’, which get around the decision of the Court of Appeal in Sumal v Newham London Borough Council [2012] EWCA Crim 1840 that confiscation of rent was not possible because ‘the continued receipt of the rent was not the product of the appellants crime’. (Admittedly that was a prosecution for an unlicensed property in a selective licensing area under section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004, but the point about confiscation not being enabled under statute had broader application).”
NearlyLegal, 14th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“The Government has today published the Immigration Bill in the Commons. We have previously commented on this planned bill and we had been hoping that it might be quietly shelved or downgraded. However that appears not to be the case. From our point of view we are only interested in the housing related provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 3 (which start here) and I am not going to discuss the rest of the Bill.”
NearlyLegal, 10th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Home Secretary Theresa May says illegal immigrants will find it much harder to set up home in the UK under new laws. The Immigration Bill will require banks to check the immigration status of people applying to open accounts, and private landlords to make similar checks on their tenants.”
BBC News, 10th October 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“I was fortunate at the end of September in two respects when delivering seminars on the subject of welfare reform; firstly I had been allocated the primary subject of the bedroom tax to talk upon, and secondly I was able to report and expand on exciting news that was breaking in this field.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 2nd October 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“The inadvertent naming of the wrong builder in a proposal form for insurance against latent defects including cover for the insolvency of the builder during the construction of social housing units, constituted a breach of warranty entitling the insurers to avoid the policy.”
WLR Daily, 4th October 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“You may well have seen or heard press stories on a First Tier tribunal bedroom tax appeal decision in Redcar and Cleveland. There has been a lot of excitable comment about it representing a ‘landmark appeal‘ and ‘hope for 440,000 disabled’. Even the tenant’s landlord, who supported her, described it as ‘fantastic news’ which ‘which should give hope to hundreds of thousands of disabled people right across the country’.”
NearlyLegal, 5th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“A leading East Midlands firm is to take court action against the lord chancellor Chris Grayling over restrictions on its legal aid contract.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 3rd October 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Another bedroom tax judicial review has just been issued.”
Nearly Legal 30th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
“The family home of a man convicted of attempting to recruit two undercover police officers to fight British soldiers in Afghanistan is set to become the first to be seized in the UK under terrorism laws.”
The Independent, 30th September 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“There has been a lot of excitement about the Westminster FTT bedroom tax appeal by Mr Surinder Lall (eg Guardian, CAB). As I mentioned in my last post on the FTT bedroom tax decisions, it was hard to tell what had happened by looking at the decision itself and the press reports. Some, like the CAB, have taken the view that it was Mr Lall’s use of the second room to hold and use equipment related to his disability (he is blind) that was the basis of the decision. If so, this would be a ‘current use’ decision and highly significant, in view of the DWP’s position that ‘tenant use’ should not be a factor.”
NearlyLegal, 28th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“The Court of Appeal could pave the way later for the first ever seizure of a family home as a terrorist asset.”
BBC News, 30th September 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A housing association tenant in central London has won an appeal against the imposition of the bedroom tax by Conservative-run Westminster city council, in what is thought to be the first such victory in England.”
The Guardian, 26th September 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A local authority is set to pay out thousands of pounds after it housed 40 homeless families in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than the recommended limit of six weeks.”
Local Government Lawyer, 24th September 2013
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
“The bedroom tax First Tier Tribunal decisions are coming in now. And they are intriguing. In some ways, not a surprise, in others somewhat opaque. As well as the first Fife decision, there are another four Fife decisions that I’ve now seen, and a rather frustrating one from Westminster.”
NearlyLegal, 24th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Law can be expensive.
This is particularly so in relation to the process of law, i.e. the costs of going to the law. By this I mean things such as the court or tribunal fees, but particularly the costs of the lawyers. If you lose in civil litigation, the normal rule is that you’ve got to pay not just for your own lawyers, but for the other side’s too. Due to the way that costs are assessed and recovered, even the winner often has to foot the bill for some their own lawyers’ fees. It is fair to say that the general public doesn’t think too highly of the fees charged by lawyers. Now, a lot of the criticism is unfair (‘If you think a professional is expensive, wait ’til you try an amateur’) and based on misinformation and misunderstanding. Nonetheless, there is force in some of the criticism.”
NearlyLegal, 24th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“A clear majority of MPs would support a change in the law to give unmarried couples greater legal rights, a poll has found.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th September 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The Legal Action Group has warned that what remains of civil legal aid could just ‘wither away’ as new research reveals ‘a disturbing reduction’ in the take-up of cases, writes Jon Robins. According to the group, there has been a marked drop off even for the cases still covered by legal aid.”
LegalVoice, 11th September 2013
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
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