Un-savvy leaseholders are paying the cost for hidden or unexplained terms – The Guardian

Posted February 13th, 2013 in housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news, unfair contract terms by sally

“Hidden clauses in leasehold agreements cost unlucky leaseholders thousands, warns property lawyer Stephen Hill.”

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The Guardian, 12th February 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Room without review: Thoughts on tackling the bedroom tax – NearlyLegal

Posted February 11th, 2013 in benefits, budgets, disability discrimination, housing, local government, news, rent by sally

“With the beginning of the bedroom tax looming up for April and upwards of 700,000 households affected, I’ve been thinking about the position when the inevitable rent arrears possessions start to appear – probably by about October – and also whether the statute itself is open to challenge.”

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NearlyLegal, 10th February 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

When a deficiency makes no difference – NearlyLegal

Posted February 4th, 2013 in homelessness, housing, local government, news by sally

“The question for the Court of Appeal in this second appeal from a homeless appeal, was ‘How should the courts deal with a plainly deficient homelessness decision when the deficiency has had no adverse consequences for the applicant?’. The issue being the effect of the lack of a ‘minded to’ letter requesting submissions under Regulation 8(2) Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Review Procedures) Regulations 1999. As we’ll see, the Court of Appeal agrees on the result, but not on the way of getting to it.”

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NearlyLegal, 3rd February 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Ibrahim v Wandsworth London Borough Council – WLR Daily

Posted February 1st, 2013 in homelessness, housing, law reports, local government by sally

Ibrahim v Wandsworth London Borough Council: [2013] EWCA Civ 20;   [2013] WLR (D)  38

“A local authority reviewer’s duty under regulation 8(2) of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Review Procedures) Regulations 1999, to invite representations from the applicant where the reviewer was minded to make a decision against the interests of the applicant despite there being a deficiency in the local authority’s original decision, was not engaged where the deficiency was not the subject of any complaint by the applicant on the review and had been neither upheld nor decided upon by the reviewer.”

WLR Daily, 30th January 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Women’s centres give vital help to ex-convicts. So why cut them? – The Guardian

Posted January 28th, 2013 in budgets, housing, news, prisons, women by sally

“Most women prisoners have committed non-violent crimes. On being released, many want to start new lives but get little or no support. In 2008, that was all supposed to change. Yet today there is anger and frustration at lack of action, and the destructive potential of cutbacks.”

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The Guardian, 27th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Wrong priorities – NearlyLegal

Posted January 21st, 2013 in complaints, housing, local government, maladministration, news, ombudsmen by sally

“Every now and again, there is a Local Government Ombudsman report that seems to go beyond individual instances of maladministration and instead capture something of the zeitgeist. The LGO decision summarised here may well be one of the latter (certainly the Guardian thinks so), as arguably what it shows is a Local Authority prioritising its own administrative concerns over its legal duties in both its policy and the operation of policy. There is also a routine failure to ask the kind of questions that might have meant it had to do more. This on top of a series of administrative failures.”

Full story

NearlyLegal, 20th January 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Article 8 success in the County Court – NearlyLegal

Posted January 18th, 2013 in housing, human rights, news, proportionality, succession, time limits by sally

“This was a failed succession case where an article 8 proportionality defence was, at least in part successful.”

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NearlyLegal, 17th January 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

High Court upholds Secretary of State’s refusal of 1,000 Grantham homes – OUT- LAW.com

Posted December 21st, 2012 in housing, news, planning by sally

“A High Court judge has dismissed a challenge to the Secretary of State’s refusal of developer Larkfleet Limited’s plans to build a 1,000-home urban extension to the north of Grantham in South Kesteven.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 20th December 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

Request for information – NearlyLegal

Posted December 20th, 2012 in appeals, housing, human rights, local government, news, succession by sally

“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 judgment on Lawtel].”

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NearlyLegal, 19th December 2012

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Crimes of the Benefit-Bashers – Garden Court Chambers Blog

Posted December 19th, 2012 in benefits, children, housing, news, social security, unemployment by sally

“Liz Davies paints a bleak picture of what the government’s spending cuts and benefit caps mean to the least advantaged in society.”

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Garden Court Chambers Blog, 18th December 2012

Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com

Housing benefit changes challenged in high court – The Guardian

Posted December 18th, 2012 in benefits, housing, news, social security, ultra vires by sally

“The coalition’s decision to break the link between the cost of renting and housing benefit payments is being challenged in the high court.”

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The Guardian, 17th December 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

31 days later: Failure to comply with s 213 of the Housing Act 2004 – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted December 11th, 2012 in deposits, housing, landlord & tenant, news, penalties by sally

“The Tenancy Deposit Scheme came into force on 6th April 2007. After the Court of Appeal handing down a number of controversial ‘landlord friendly’ judgments on the meaning of ss 213-215 of Housing Act 2004 (‘the Act’), Parliament amended these provisions by s 184 of the Localism Act 2011 (‘2011 Act’). The amendments came into force on 6 April 2012. Since this date, there is a tough new world out there for unorganised or inexperienced landlords. This article seeks to set out what is required by landlords and what happens when things go wrong.”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 30th November 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Outright or suspended – The correct approach in discretionary residential possession cases – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted December 11th, 2012 in appeals, housing, local government, news, repossession by sally

“On 29 November 2012 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Birmingham City Council v Mr Neil Ashton [2012] EWCA Civ 1557. Though the facts of the case were similar to many anti-social behaviour cases heard around the country it did throw up three particularly interesting areas of confirmation and clarification.”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 3rd December 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

‘Squatters are not home stealers’ – The Guardian

Posted December 4th, 2012 in housing, news, squatting by sally

“On 26 September, Alex Haigh became the first person to be jailed under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. His crime was one of which countless thousands of people could now be guilty: squatting. A 21-year-old from Plymouth, Haigh was arrested for living in a house in Pimlico that had been empty for over a year. He had come to London seeking work as a bricklayer; now he has a criminal record.”

Full story

The Guardian, 3rd December 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Triumph of substance over form – Hardwicke Chambers

“In Pieretti v. LB Enfield [2011] 2 All ER 642 the Court of Appeal held that a local authority in exercising its powers under Part VII Housing Act 1996 (Homelessness) was carrying out a ‘function’ for the purposes of s.49A. It was therefore an obligation on the Local Authority to have ‘due regard’ to the factors set out in the section and, in the case of homelessness, in particular to have ‘due regard’ to ‘the need to take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities’. Moreover, this duty arose irrespective of whether or not the applicant, or their advisers, had raised disability as an issue.”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 30th November 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Housing and the CPR: A Factual and Speculative Account of Amendments Past and Present – Zenith Chambers

Posted December 4th, 2012 in appeals, civil procedure rules, committals, housing, news by sally

“The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules 2012 came into force on 1st October 2012. These Amendments cover many aspects of the CPR. This article only considers those amendments which a housing practitioner is likely to encounter.”

Full story (PDF)

Zenith Chambers, 27th November 2012

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Prison mentors: ‘I’ve been in trouble almost all the time’ – BBC News

Posted November 26th, 2012 in charities, housing, news, prisons, recidivists, rehabilitation by sally

“The government wants to give more prisoners on sentences of less than 12 months a mentor – who may themselves be an ex-offender – to try to cut reoffending.”

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BBC News, 26th November 2012

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Samin v Westminster City Council – WLR Daily

Posted November 23rd, 2012 in benefits, disabled persons, EC law, homelessness, housing, immigration, law reports by sally

Samin v Westminster City Council: [2012] EWCA Civ 1468;   [2012] WLR (D)  336

“A migrant worker from another EU member state who could not establish that he was temporarily unable to work as a result of illness or accident within regulation 6(2)(a) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 was not entitled to housing provision from a local authority as a homeless person under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996.”

WLR Daily, 21st November 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Deja Vu All Over Again (and again) – NearlyLegal

Posted November 23rd, 2012 in benefits, disabled persons, EC law, homelessness, housing, immigration, news by sally

“In Samin v Westminster CC [2012] EWCA Civ 1468, the Court of Appeal had to decide what was meant by someone being ‘temporarily unable to work’ so as to determine if Mr Samin retained his status as a ‘worker’ under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006.”

Full story

NearlyLegal, 22nd November 2012

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Just because it looks like a Duck, walks like a Duck and sounds like a Duck, does not mean it is Duck –or a house? – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted November 20th, 2012 in appeals, housing, leases, news by sally

“Part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 was designed to alter the balance between freeholders and their residential tenants, by giving the leaseholders the right to an extended lease or to compulsory acquisition of the freehold.”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 16th November 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk