1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 – NearlyLegal

‘This was a judicial review of LB Enfield’s plans for borough wide additional HMO licensing and selective licensing of all PRS properties. It did not go well for Enfield, who appear to have not quite grasped the consultation requirements.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 3rd January 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Ng and another v Charalambous and another – WLR Daily

Posted December 19th, 2014 in deposits, housing, landlord & tenant, law reports, repossession by sally

Ng and another v Charalambous and another [2014] EWCA Civ 1604; [2014] WLR (D) 540

‘Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004, as amended, which provided that any tenancy deposit paid to a person in connection with a shorthold tenancy in existence on 6 April 2012 had to be dealt with in accordance with an authorised scheme, was concerned not with the date at which the deposit was received but with the date on which the tenancy was in effect. Where such a deposit was not held in an authorised scheme, having been received before the relevant date, the sanctions for non-compliance in section 215(1) nevertheless applied so as to preclude the landlord from serving on the tenant a valid notice stating that possession was required under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.’

WLR Daily, 16th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Suspending belief – Nearly Legal

Posted December 15th, 2014 in appeals, equity, land registration, landlord & tenant, mortgages, news, Supreme Court by tracey

‘We have dealt with the basic facts in Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd [2014] UKSC 52 when considering its previous incarnations (Cooke v Mortgage Business [2012] EWCA Civ 17 and Re North East Property Buyers Ltd [2010] EWHC 2991 (Ch)). In summary, the basic question for the Supreme Court was this: where a seller has agreed, prior to the contract of sale, that the buyer will grant the seller a tenancy after the sale, does the seller have that right so as not only to bind the buyer but also the buyer’s lender? I think, when framed as a question like that, the answer seems obvious. Call me a weak-kneed liberal, but all the equity (colloquially speaking) is in favour of the seller. They have entered in to the transaction on that basis and would not have entered in to the transaction otherwise. We all make bad deals which the law doesn’t get us out of, but the equity isn’t really in our favour: why should the law get us out of a bad deal?’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 14th December 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Conscious Re-coupling and Succession – Nearly Legal

‘In R (Turley) v LB Wandsworth , the Claimant was the partner of the late Mr Doyle, who was the secure tenant of a property at Battersea Park Rd, London, SW8 from 1995 until his death on 17/3/2012. Mr D and Ms T had 4 children together and they lived at the property throughout, apart from a critically important period of separation between December 2010 and January 2012.

Ms T applied to succeed to the secure tenancy but the council decided that because she had not resided at the property for the 12 months immediately preceding Mr D’s death, she did not qualify to succeed. Ms T brought judicial review proceedings against that decision.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 14th December 2014

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

High Court judge quashes selective licensing scheme over consultation failings – Local Government Lawyer

Posted December 15th, 2014 in appeals, consultations, housing, landlord & tenant, licensing, local government, news by tracey

‘The High Court has quashed a selective licensing scheme that Enfield Council was seeking to apply to the entire borough.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 12th December 2014

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Tenant wins Supreme Court fight with council over damages for unlawful eviction – Local Government Lawyer

‘A secure tenant who was unlawfully evicted from his accommodation has won his Supreme Court battle with a London council over the level of damages payable.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 3rd December 2014

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

The pitfalls of sale and rent back – New Square Chambers

Posted December 3rd, 2014 in fraud, housing, landlord & tenant, loans, mortgages, news, sale of land, Supreme Court by sally

‘The Supreme Court has confirmed the risks of sale and rent back arrangements in Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd v Scott [2014] UKSC 52. Mrs Scott was the vendor in a sale and rent back. Against her knowledge the purchaser had obtained a mortgage to fund the purchase of her home and defaulted, causing it to be repossessed. She was unsuccessful in arguing that her lease took priority to the mortgage.’

Full story

New Square Chambers, 28th November 2014

Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk

Loveridge (Appellant) v Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Lambeth (Respondent) – Supreme Court

Posted December 3rd, 2014 in damages, housing, landlord & tenant, law reports by sally

Loveridge (Appellant) v Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Lambeth (Respondent) [2014] UKSC 65 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 3rd December 2014

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Osman and another v Natt and another – WLR Daily

Posted December 2nd, 2014 in appeals, enfranchisement, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases, notification by sally

Osman and another v Natt and another [2014] EWCA Civ 1520; [2014] WLR (D) 505

‘On its proper interpretation the statutory scheme of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 required the court to hold that a purported notice under section 13 claiming the right to collective enfranchisement was invalid by virtue of the non-compliance with section 13(3)(e) in failing to identify all the qualifying tenants and to state their addresses in the property. The intention of the legislature as to the consequences of non-compliance with the statutory procedure had to be ascertained in the light of the statutory scheme as a whole.’

WLR Daily, 26th November 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

‘Right to rent’ checks start in West Midlands – BBC News

Posted December 1st, 2014 in fines, immigration, landlord & tenant, news, passports by tracey

‘Landlords in the West Midlands who fail to check whether prospective tenants are in the country legally will face a £3,000 fine, under a new rule expected to be rolled out across the UK.’

Full story

BBC News, 1st December 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Stop Retaliating! – NearlyLegal

Posted November 27th, 2014 in bills, complaints, housing, landlord & tenant, news, notification, repairs, time limits by sally

‘The Tenancies Reform Bill has now been formally published following its second reading. The Bill has changed substantially from the original version that was put forward by Sarah Teather MP and drafted by Shelter. We commented on the Bill before as we had seen the version produced at first reading. The Bill has now benefitted from the gentle caress of the Parliamentary Draftsman’s office so it looks entirely different.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 27th November 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Southwark: Not appealing – NearlyLegal

‘It is not unknown for losing parties in a case to not be happy, indeed very upset. There are two basic options. To shut up and put up with it, or appeal. Rather unusually, faced with one of the most coruscating High Court judgments I can recall, in AA V LB Southwark [our report here], the senior officers of Southwark Council have chosen to do neither. Instead, Southwark’s Housing and Communities Strategic Director has chosen to publicly announce that the judgment was ‘unjust’ and ‘clearly wrong’, but that Southwark aren’t going to appeal it.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 25th November 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Only one London borough is acting on a law that helps protect tenants – The Independent

Posted November 25th, 2014 in landlord & tenant, London, news, ombudsmen by sally

‘A new law is supposed to protect tenants from rogue letting agents – yet only one London authority appears to be implementing the new ruling.’

Full story

The Independent, 24th November 2014

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Sims (Appellant) v Dacorum Borough Council (Respondent) – Supreme Court

Sims (Appellant) v Dacorum Borough Council (Respondent) [2014] UKSC 63 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 12th November 2014

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

My Achy, Breaky Tenancy: Supreme Court rules it human rights-compatible for one tenant’s unilateral Notice to Quit to end a joint tenancy – Zenith Chambers

‘Something that can take some housing practitioners by surprise is a Notice to Quit served, not by a landlord on a tenant, but by a tenant on a landlord (sometimes referred to by housing officers as a “notice to terminate”).’

Full story

Zenith Chambers, 13th November 2014

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Magic beans for that cow? – Zenith Chambers

Posted November 17th, 2014 in appeals, equity, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, mortgages, news, rent, Supreme Court by sally

‘The North East Property Buyers litigation test cases finally reached the Supreme Court and judgment was handed down on 22nd October 2014. Any practitioner in property and housing litigation in the North East, and indeed further afield, will have had some knowledge of, or dealings with, schemes such as were in these cases examined. They concerned sale and lease back agreements, a simple enough notion, involving the purchase of a vendor’s home by a nominee, often at an undervalue, in return granting the vendor a lease of the property, thereby releasing equity to the vendor and allowing them to remain in the property at a reduced rent.’

Full story (PDF)

Zenith Chambers, 24th October 2014

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

The Duty to Inform and Consult under Regulation 13 of TUPE – Tanfield Chambers

‘The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) have provided a wide range of case law since they came into force. Decisions have often been focused on issues such as what constitutes a relevant transfer or the effect ofinsolvency on a transfer. However, there has been surprisingly little case law which deals with the Regulation 13 TUPE duty to inform and consult and the Regulation 15 TUPE claim to a tribunal for a failure to inform and consult.’

Full story (PDF)

Tanfield Chambers, 16th October 2014

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Landlord ordered to pay £280k after breaching enforcement notices on flats – Local Government Lawyer

‘A landlord who built an outbuilding and converted it into six small flats without planning permission has been ordered to pay more than £280,000.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 11th November 2014

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Rooting out heresy – NearlyLegal

Posted November 5th, 2014 in appeals, landlord & tenant, leases, news, repairs by sally

This is a post about the consultation provisions in ss.20, 20ZA, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, applicable in respect of service chargeable costs. If you’re not interested in long leasehold law (which, looking at the site stats for most popular pages, is most of you), then look away now.

Full story

NearlyLegal, 5th November 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Outlaw ‘revenge evictions’ by landlords, says housing charity – The Guardian

‘Shelter, the housing charity, is calling for a ban on “revenge evictions”, which it says are being carried out by bad landlords on tenants who dare to complain about inadequate conditions or ask for repairs to be made.’

Full story

The Guardian, 25th October 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk