Daejan Investments Limited (Appellant) v Benson and others (Respondents) – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 6th March 2013
Category: landlord & tenant
A landlord who failed to consult properly with its tenants before incurring service charge costs has been reprieved – OUT-LAW.com
“A landlord can still recover the cost of carrying out work on a property from
its tenants through a service charge even if the landlord does not comply with
statutory consultation requirements, provided that the tenants are not
‘prejudiced’ by the landlord’s actions, the Supreme Court has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 6th March 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Lettings agents ‘breaking the law’ by not revealing fees – The Independent
“Lettings agents have been accused of breaking the law by not revealing their fees to renters.”
The Independent, 5th March 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Kutchukian v Keepers and Governors of the Possessions Revenues and Goods of the Free Grammar School of John Lyon – WLR Daily
“When carrying out the hypothetical valuation of a property with development potential, pursuant to paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, the Upper Tribunal ought to have decided the legal position in respect of the legal rights and liabilities arising under various leases, rather than allow for uncertainty on those legal points, insofar as leaving them undetermined, by a discount for the risk.”
WLR Daily, 20th February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Letting agents: new laws needed to protect tenants and landlords, says OFT – The Guardian
“The government should consider new laws for lettings agents to improve the rights of tenants and landlords, the Office of Fair Trading has said.”
The Guardian, 14th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Un-savvy leaseholders are paying the cost for hidden or unexplained terms – The Guardian
“Hidden clauses in leasehold agreements cost unlucky leaseholders thousands, warns property lawyer Stephen Hill.”
The Guardian, 12th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Service charge consultation becomes an even larger elephant trap (The Chancellor’s valedictory hand grenade) – Hardwicke Chambers
“On 21 December 2012, Sir Andrew Morritt, then Chancellor of the High Court, handed down judgment in Phillips & Goddard v Francis & Francis [2012] EWHC 3650 (Ch), a case which has dramatic ramifications for residential landlords and managing agents. The state of the legislation and its most recent judicial interpretation will see landlords bogged down in consultations and applications for dispensation, and at risk of being unable to recover legitimate expenditure. ”
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th January 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Ridgewood Properties Group Ltd and others v Valero Energy Ltd (Pannone & Partners (a firm), Part 20 defendant) – WLR Daily
“An option in an agreement which, if taken up, would lead to a tenancy was not ‘an agreement for a tenancy’ for the purposes of section 28(1) of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995. Also, conditions precedent to the grant of lease were not covenants that were part of the agreement for a tenancy nor were they comprised within landlord and tenant covenants for the purposes of section 28. Therefore, in neither case did the burden of the obligation undertaken by the vendor transfer to the purchaser by virtue of the 1995 Act.”
WLR Daily, February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Don’t tell (and didn’t ask) – NearlyLegal
“Introductory tenancies require a notice under s.128 Housing Act 1996 to be served before possession proceedings. That notice shall inform the tenant of his right to request a review of the landlord’s decision to seek an order for possession and of the time within which such a request must be made. [s.128(6)]”
NearlyLegal, 26th January 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Monkey on my back – NearlyLegal
“Even since McCann v. UK (2008) 47 EHRR 40, a lot of people (around these parts) have been waiting for a case on Article 8 and the rule in Hammersmith v Monk (Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v. Monk [1992] AC 478) to reach the higher Courts. Is the rule that notice by one joint tenant determines the tenancy for both/all compatible with Article 8 (or Protocol 1 Article 1)? Now one case has got to a higher stage. In a somewhat eccentric fashion, the Court of Appeal has given a distinctly forthright view, even if what the Court could actually do with the appeal was, more or less, nothing at all.”
NearlyLegal, 25th January, 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
Premises ‘reasonably required’ – NearlyLegal
“A rare Rent Act 1977 possession case, with possession sought as ‘reasonably required’ under Case 9 Of Schedule 15 of the 1977 Act via section 98(1).”
NearlyLegal, 24th January 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Phillips and another v Francis and another – WLR Daily
Phillips and another v Francis and another: [2012] EWHC 3650 (Ch); [2013] WLR (D) 7
“On the true construction of the meaning and effect of the scheme relating to service charges imposed by sections 20 and 20ZA of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, as amended by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, section 151 identification of one or more sets of qualifying works was not required. The emphasis in the current legislation had shifted from identifying and costing the works before they started to notifying an intention to carry out the works and limiting the amount of the individual contributions sought to pay for them after their completion.”
WLR Daily 21st December 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Landlord John Tatton forced girl to ‘pay’ for rent in sexual favours – BBC News
“A landlord who forced a teenage girl to ‘pay’ for her rent with sexual favours has been jailed for four years.”
BBC News, 7th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
ASB and Possession – NearlyLegal
“Birmingham CC v Ashton is a case which illustrates the difficulty that judges face when they are invited to make possession orders on the grounds of nuisance and anti-social behaviour against tenants with mental health problems.”
NearlyLegal, 16th December 2012
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Equality Act 2010, possession claims and assessors – Hardwicke Chambers
“It seemed a fairly straightforward hearing – a pre-trial review in an anti-social behaviour possession claim prior to a one-day trial at the end of December – with both my opponent and I agreeing that the matter was ready to proceed.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th December 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
31 days later: Failure to comply with s 213 of the Housing Act 2004 – Hardwicke Chambers
“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.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th November 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Leases, repairs and ‘errors’ – NearlyLegal
“For long leases, outside the provisions of s.11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the repairing obligation of the landlord is limited to the exact terms set out in the lease, as is the extent to which the landlord can recover the costs of repairs from the leaseholder. As anyone who has dealt with repairs on housing association shared ownership schemes where the housing association is itself a lessee of part of the building will know, this can be an utter nightmare, where the immediate landlord can seem to escape any repairing obligations whatsoever. But what if the lease terms themselves contain an apparent error?”
NearlyLegal, 9th December 2012
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Souglides v Tweedie and another – WLR Daily
Souglides v Tweedie and another [2012] EWCA Civ 1546; [2012] WLR (D) 367
“The reference in section 9(1)(a) of the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 to ‘successors in title’ referred to successors in title to the lease to which the interest being conferred by the option was reversionary. Accordingly, the successor had to be a successor to the original lessee in respect of the same title, namely that lease.”
WLR Daily, 4th December 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Wildsmith and others v Arrowgate Ltd (Landgate (New Homes) Ltd intervening) – WLR Daily
“A notice served under section 27 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 had to spell out exactly what the applicants were complaining about and why they contended it was an appropriate case for the making of an acquisition order under section 29 of the Act.”
WLR Daily, 22nd November 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Give Me Back My Money – NearlyLegal
“We bring you two interesting reports from the world of Rent Repayment Orders. Briefly, these stem from a power under s73 and 74 of the Housing Act 2004. These sections allow a Residential Property Tribunal to award a tenant or local authority the return of rent or housing benefits where the landlord has been operating an unlicensed HMO.”
NearlyLegal, 28th November 2012
Sourc: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
