County council admits flawed practice of turning homeless children away, settles judicial review challenge – Local Government Lawyers

‘Essex County Council has settled a judicial review challenge brought on behalf of a 16-year-old homeless child, admitting that it had operated an unlawful practice of turning homeless children away from care in breach of section 20 of the Children Act 1989.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 4th July 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Social housing and religion: R (Z & Anor) – Law & Religion UK

‘A non-Jewish woman, Z, had four children, including a son with autism. She was at the top of Hackney Council’s list for a four-bedroom home in the area. The co-defendant, the Agudas Israel Housing Association (AIHA), was founded in 1986 to provide social housing for Orthodox Jews in north London: it does not accept applications from anyone outside the Orthodox community. Six four-bedroom properties owned by AIHA became available but Ms Z was not allowed to apply for one of them. She sought judicial review of that refusal, arguing that it was unlawful and discriminatory for the AIHA to refuse her a home. As we noted, in R (Z & Ors) v Hackney London Borough Council & Anor [2019] EWHC 139 (Admin), a Divisional Court dismissed her claim, holding that a Jewish housing association might legitimately refuse to rent houses to those who were not Orthodox Jews. Z appealed.’

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Law & Religion UK, 5th July 2019

Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com

Supreme Court to hear ‘bedroom tax’ dispute over ability to disapply regulations to avoid human rights breaches – Local Government Lawyer

Posted July 3rd, 2019 in benefits, housing, human rights, news, Supreme Court, tribunals by sally

‘The Supreme Court will this week (3 July) hear an appeal on whether social security tribunals have the power or duty to calculate entitlement to housing benefit without making deductions for under-occupancy, where the application of regulations would breach claimants’ rights under the Human Rights Act.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 2nd July 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Court of Appeal rejects challenge to lawfulness of discriminatory allocation of housing on ground of religion – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal against a Divisional Court ruling that a charitable housing association’s arrangements for allocating housing, which amount to direct discrimination on the ground of religion, were lawful.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 27th June 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

JusticeWatch: Growing ‘justice gap’ in discrimination cases – Legal Voice

‘Victims of discrimination were being denied access to justice and offenders going unchallenged as a result of a ‘failing’ legal aid system, as reported in the Justice Gap.’

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Legal Voice, 21st June 2019

Source: legalvoice.org.uk

Stepsisters in High Court inheritance battle over which parent died first – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 26th, 2019 in bereavement, families, housing, news, wills by sally

‘The High Court has been asked to intervene in a £300,000 inheritance row between step siblings over which parent died first.’

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Daily Telegraph, 25th June 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Supreme Court quashes decision to declare mother ‘intentionally homeless’ – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 21st, 2019 in benefits, homelessness, housing, local government, news, rent, Supreme Court by tracey

‘Samuels v Birmingham City Council [2019] UKSC 28. In unanimously allowing an appeal against a decision to declare the appellant intentionally homeless due to her inability to pay her rent, the Supreme Court affirmed that non-housing benefits are not designed to create a surplus that can be used to account for insufficient housing benefits.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 18th June 2019

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Businessman was forced to live in a pigsty after he accused his partner of affair, court hears – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 20th, 2019 in compensation, divorce, families, financial dispute resolution, housing, news, rent by tracey

‘A businessman was forced to live in a pigsty after he accused his ex partner of having an affair, a court has heard.

The pigsty was in the grounds of the £1m home in Upminster, Essex, and he told Central London County Court that his ex partner of 37 years excluded him from the house.
The couple, who have two children, ended up in court after he launched a claim to claim money from her for the time he spent living out of the home.’

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Daily Telegraph, 19th June 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Reasonable Expenses and intentional homelessness – Nearly Legal

‘Samuels v Birmingham City Council (2019) UKSC 28. The Supreme Court, finally, has delivered its judgment on the issue of the assessment of “reasonable expenses” when considering the affordability of rent in homelessness decisions.’

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Nearly Legal, 16th June 2019

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Supreme court rules in favour of single mother declared ‘intentionally homeless’ – The Guardian

Posted June 13th, 2019 in homelessness, housing, local government, news, rent by sally

‘The supreme court has ordered a council to reconsider its decision to declare a single mother of four to be “intentionally homeless” because she was unable to afford the rent.’

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The Guardian, 12th June 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Supreme Court gives new guidance on liability of local authorities – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Poole Borough Council v GN and another [2019] UKSC 25. The Supreme Court has found that Poole Borough Council did not owe a duty of care to two children, CN and GN, who it failed to re-house, despite the fact that they were suffering abuse from their neighbours. However, the court overruled previous authority and found that in some situations a duty of care might arise.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 7th June 2019

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Deposit penalties. How many breaches is too many?- Nearly Legal

Posted June 4th, 2019 in damages, deposits, housing, landlord & tenant, news, penalties by sally

‘A quick note, because Rea Murray has done the heavy lifting for me. We’ve seen the ‘claims for multiple deposit breaches’ issues before, although in the guise of whether a claim could be brought for a number of tenancies at once. This was a county court appeal to a circuit judge on exactly what counted as a claimable breach, and how many could be claimed per tenancy.’

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Nearly Legal, 3rd June 2019

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Possession and the PSED (again) – Nearly Legal

‘London and Quadrant HR v Patrick [2019] EWHC 1263 (QB) follows hard on the footsteps of Powell v Dacorum BC [2019] EWCA Civ 29 and Forward v Aldwyck Housing Group Ltd [2019] EWHC 24 (QB) (our note here), with Turner J making some fairly caustic observations about the use of the public sector equality duty in possession cases. He ended his substantive judgment with the observation that, “I note that the decision in Forward is under appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is to be hoped that, whatever the outcome, such guidance as may be given will significantly reduce the risk that, in future, possession applications are subject to protracted delays and uncertainty which are highly prejudicial to all of those affected”.’

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Nearly Legal, 28th May 2019

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Tenant Fees Act: landlords should read up on the new law before it comes into force, or risk a £5,000 fine – The Independent

Posted May 28th, 2019 in codes of practice, fees, fines, housing, landlord & tenant, news by tracey

‘Strict new laws will dictate what a landlord can and can’t ask tenants to pay for. Both sides need to know the rules.’

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The Independent, 24th May 2019

Source: www.homesandproperty.co.uk

Principles for lawyers dealing with offshore structures published – Legal Futures

‘International standards for lawyers advising on offshore commercial structures have been put forward at the same time as parliamentarians called for stronger laws on foreign ownership of UK property.’

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Legal Futures, 20th May 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Gimme Gimme Gimme – Nearly Legal

Posted May 20th, 2019 in appeals, housing, landlord & tenant, news, service charges, tribunals by tracey

‘Curo Places Ltd v Pimlett (LANDLORD AND TENANT – service charges – tenancy agreement of a bungalow in a sheltered housing scheme) (2019) UKUT 130 (LC). Another Upper Tribunal case on a landlord adding additional services and charges to assured tenancy agreements, but where Wilcock v The Guinness Partnership Ltd (2019) UKUT 146 (LC) (our report) concerned an agreement with specified services only, this appeal concerned a tenancy agreement with a clause that did allow the landlord to add additional services and charge for them.’

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Nearly Legal, 19th May 2019

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

UK property register ‘needed urgently’ to stop money laundering – The Guardian

‘Proposals for the first register of foreign-owned property aimed at preventing “McMafia-style” money laundering should be put in practice urgently and reinforced to plug potential loopholes, the government has been told.’

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The Guardian, 20th May 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

New Judgment: Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (Valuation Officer) [2019] UKSC 23 – UKSC Blog

Posted May 16th, 2019 in appeals, housing, local government, news, Supreme Court, valuation by sally

‘This appeal considered whether regard should be given, when ascertaining the rateable value of a property under the statutory hypothesis in the Local Government Finance Act 1988, Sch 6, para 2(1), to general demand for comparable properties in the market. It also considered what the relevance is, if any, to the ascertainment of rateable value under the statutory hypothesis, of the absence of an actual prospective tenant who would pay a positive price in order to occupy the property at the valuation date.’

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UKSC Blog, 15th May 2019

Source: ukscblog.com

Court of Appeal to hear case on public sector equality duty and possession orders over false representations – Local Government Lawyer

‘A case concerning the interrelationship between the public sector equality duty and the court’s discretion to make a possession order because of false representations is to go to the Court of Appeal, it has been reported.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 16th May 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Family President to issue guidance to courts on secure accommodation placements and statutory regime – Local Government Lawyer

‘The President of the Family Division has said he will issue practice guidance to the courts before the end of July so that more can be done to bring secure accommodation placements within the statutory regulatory scheme.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 14th May 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk