“The facts of this new Court of Appeal decision – on the effect of a change in tenancy status on a landlord’s duty to protect a tenancy deposit – are deceptively simple. Its wider effects on claims to recover possession are yet to be felt.”
Zenith Chambers, 10th October 2013
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
“The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act comes into force tomorrow (Tuesday 15 October 2013) in England only. The text of the Act is here. A key point is the introduction of ‘Unlawful Profit Orders’, which get around the decision of the Court of Appeal in Sumal v Newham London Borough Council [2012] EWCA Crim 1840 that confiscation of rent was not possible because ‘the continued receipt of the rent was not the product of the appellants crime’. (Admittedly that was a prosecution for an unlicensed property in a selective licensing area under section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004, but the point about confiscation not being enabled under statute had broader application).”
NearlyLegal, 14th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“The Government has today published the Immigration Bill in the Commons. We have previously commented on this planned bill and we had been hoping that it might be quietly shelved or downgraded. However that appears not to be the case. From our point of view we are only interested in the housing related provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 3 (which start here) and I am not going to discuss the rest of the Bill.”
NearlyLegal, 10th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“You may well have seen or heard press stories on a First Tier tribunal bedroom tax appeal decision in Redcar and Cleveland. There has been a lot of excitable comment about it representing a ‘landmark appeal‘ and ‘hope for 440,000 disabled’. Even the tenant’s landlord, who supported her, described it as ‘fantastic news’ which ‘which should give hope to hundreds of thousands of disabled people right across the country’.”
NearlyLegal, 5th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Another bedroom tax judicial review has just been issued.”
Nearly Legal 30th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
“There has been a lot of excitement about the Westminster FTT bedroom tax appeal by Mr Surinder Lall (eg Guardian, CAB). As I mentioned in my last post on the FTT bedroom tax decisions, it was hard to tell what had happened by looking at the decision itself and the press reports. Some, like the CAB, have taken the view that it was Mr Lall’s use of the second room to hold and use equipment related to his disability (he is blind) that was the basis of the decision. If so, this would be a ‘current use’ decision and highly significant, in view of the DWP’s position that ‘tenant use’ should not be a factor.”
NearlyLegal, 28th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“OK, so the title perhaps implies that what follows is more interesting than it is. However, the most recent decision of the Supreme Court in the Nortel/Lehman litigation is of considerable importance for all of us, particularly in the current economic climate.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 23rd September 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“The bedroom tax First Tier Tribunal decisions are coming in now. And they are intriguing. In some ways, not a surprise, in others somewhat opaque. As well as the first Fife decision, there are another four Fife decisions that I’ve now seen, and a rather frustrating one from Westminster.”
NearlyLegal, 24th September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“At least less risky for property investors. That is the basis of the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Voyvoda v Grosvenor West End Properties, which we have managed to miss reporting because of the Summer break.”
NearlyLegal, 3rd September 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“On the whole, trying to appeal an unlawful eviction judgment and quantum decision against you on the basis that you are not actually the landlord is not an approach to be recommended. This appeal decision in the High Court can be taken as a reminder why this is so. There is also a reminder of the limits of Housing Act 1988 section 27(7)(a) mitigation by conduct of the tenant and of a section 27(8)(a) defence.”
NearlyLegal, 26th August 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Generally, any landlord who wishes to enter into a qualifying long term agreement (‘QLTA’), viz. an agreement for a term of more than 12 months (subject to certain exceptions) as a result of which any tenant will pay a service charge of more than £100 (‘the appropriate amount’) for the relevant service charge period, must either consult in accordance with the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1987) (‘the Regulations’) or obtain a dispensation from the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (‘PC’). Failure to consult will result in the relevant service charge being capped at the appropriate amount.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 13th August 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“Fareham BC v Miller [2013] EWCA Civ 159 states in no uncertain terms that the common law position is that a landlord’s notice to quit is irrevocable once served.”
NearlyLegal, 14th August 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“A woman who moved out from her flat while a local authority carried out repairs still held her tenancy eight years later, the Court of Appeal has ruled.”
Local Government Lawyer, 12th August 2013
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
“Sometimes the draftsman gets it wrong. Sometimes his only mistake is to fail to predict the future. Either way a landlord can face a serious shortfall if the combined percentages of service charges payable under the leases for the block do not add up to 100%. While at first blush, the landlord’s shortfall is the tenants’ windfall, defective leases can seem a much less attractive prospect if the result is that the landlord is reluctant to provide services.”
Full story (PDF)
Tanfield Chambers, 27th July 2013
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
“Liz Davies considers the ways in which landlords have benefited from the credit crisis and explores how tenants could be given increased security through five-year tenancies.”
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 30th July 2013
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
“The former wife of an RAF squadron leader is taking on the Ministry of Defence in a High Court test case, claiming that a move to evict her — after her husband walked out — violates her human rights.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th July 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A recent case in the Chancery Division is the latest in a series concerning payment of rent as a condition of exercising a break clause: Marks & Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd [2013] EWHC 1279; [2013] 22 EG 92. In this series of cases, tenants have sought to overcome the apparent unfairness of paying quarterly rent due in advance as a condition of exercising a break clause part way through a quarter, leading to an overpayment of rent when compared pro rata to the period of actual occupancy.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 15th July 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
BDW Trading Ltd and another v South Anglia Housing Ltd [2013] WLR (D) 282
“Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which provided for consultation requirements to apply to ‘qualifying long term agreements’ (‘QLTA’), had no application to a long term agreement entered into in relation to buildings which had not yet been constructed, or which were not let at the time of the agreement.”
WLR Daily, 15th July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“David Wood, the head of the Home Office’s immigration enforcement, has given a qualified apology to the family of Jimmy Mubenga, the Angolan asylum seeker who an inquest jury last week ruled was unlawfully killed by three G4S escort guards.”
The Guardian, 16th July 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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