Fitness for Habitation – now with Govt support.
I am delighted, and delighted for Karen Buck MP, to be able to say that her Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill now has government support as well as that of...
View Article‘How to rent’ Guide updated – important for all PRS landlords and tenants
A quick note to highlight that the MHCLG ‘How to rent’ booklet was updated on 17 January 2018. Apparently this was just to remove references to the ‘London Rental Standard’. However, this is still...
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Fitness for Human Habitation is go!
The Homes (Fitness for Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill passed second reading on 19 January, with a unanimous vote. The debate (interrupted by a Ministerial statement) is here and...
View ArticleFrom the county courts
With grateful thanks as ever to the Legal Action Magazine Housing: Recent Developments section for information on these (and they are not noted till those reports are publicly accessible), a couple of...
View ArticleBreaching licensing and proceeds of crime
(Our thanks to Spencer Turner for this guest post) Brent Council v Shah and Others, unreported 29 January 2018 (Crown Ct (Harrow)) The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (‘POCA’) has been successfully used by...
View ArticleI can serve this only once – gas safety certificates
Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz. Central London County Court. 2 February 2018 (from note of judgment) First our thanks to Matthew Cannings of 3 Paper Buildings for note of judgment and Richard...
View Article‘Can’t Pay..’ will have to pay.
Ali and Aslam v Channel 5 Broadcast Ltd (2018) EWHC 298 (Ch) I won’t go into detail – do read the judgment for the oddest mashup of housing law, media law and privacy law we have encountered (so far) –...
View ArticleThere can be only one!
The MHCLG have announced a consultation ‘Strengthening consumer redress in the housing market’, which primarily about reviewing and reforming Ombudsman schemes in the housing sector, with the proposal...
View Article‘No DSS’ and discrimination
The BBC ran a new report today on a case in Birmingham. The headline – “Landlords who say ‘no DSS’ breaking equality laws” – was, as we shall see, somewhat misleading, but the report did indeed cover a...
View ArticleBits and pieces
Yes, I know we still need to write up Rother District Council v Freeman-Roach (2018) EWCA Civ 368 on the approach to ‘significantly more vulnerable’ in homeless review decisions, and we will, we will....
View ArticleHow late it was, how late
On the death of a tenant (without successor, if there is a possible succession) section 18 Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994 provides: “Notices affecting land: service on personal...
View ArticleOn a Housing Court and (not) making things simpler.
A specialist Housing Court is in the air. Sajid Javid, Minister for Housing. Communities and Local Government, has repeatedly mentioned ‘discussions’ with the judiciary on a housing court, ever since...
View ArticleDeposits – don’t fake compliance. And the multiple breach issue
Thank you to my colleague and fount of wisdom Deirdre Forster for this case note on a tenancy deposit claim. Howard Davies v Scott, County Court at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch, 18 January 2018 In...
View ArticleErrata – AST regulations and non-existent requirements.
Yes, there is indeed a backlog of cases to write up, covering issues from who pays for cladding removal, through Tribunals and the Human Rights Act, to the proper venue for a claim for accommodation...
View Article‘Things not to do’ corner – Deposit protection counterclaim edition
Wood v Arkley, County Court at Bradford, 15 March 2018 Our grateful thanks to counsel Vilma Vodanovic and solicitor Nawaz Zeb of Foundation for the note of judgment. A section 21 possession claim by...
View ArticleAutomatic discharge of suspended possession order – it depends
Armstrong v Ashfield District Council (2018) EWCA Civ 873 Where a suspended possession order has provided for a future date of discharge, does that take effect even when the landlord has applied for a...
View ArticleBits – tenant fees, airbnb and more
The Tenant Fees Bill is now underway. The first reading was on 2 May 2018. The Bill page is here. The Govt response to the CLG select committee report on the proposals is here. Notable in the the Bill...
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On the Naughty Step –‘Accommodation Clubs’
To misquote Groucho Marx, you really don’t want to belong to any such club that would have you as a member. I’ve been hearing about these set ups for a while. They seem to be the latest thing in bloody...
View ArticleCourt of Appeal on illegal eviction – quantum and heads of claim.
Smith v Khan (2018) EWCA Civ 1137 Well! It is not often that an illegal eviction case gets to the Court of Appeal, let alone on the tenant’s appeal. But that is what we have here. There are some...
View ArticleForthcoming law (and informed consent)
The Tenant Fees Bill has had its second reading. The current Bill and its progress are here. There is a lot to digest in the Bill and I suspect there will be amendments on route. There are a whole new...
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