‘A landlord who made almost £27,000 a year by cramming 12 tenants into a property meant for five – with some sleeping in storerooms – has been fined £30,000 after pleading guilty to overcrowding.’
The Guardian, 4th November 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A landlord who rented out a storage basement as self-contained accommodation for £975 a month after it was declared substandard has been ordered to pay back £70,000 in rent under the Proceeds of Crime Act.’
The Guardian, 22nd October 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The government has announced today that from 1 February 2016, all private landlords in England will have to check new tenants have the right to be in the UK before renting out their property.’
Home Office, 20th October 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
‘In 2001, a small scale form of discretionary support was introduced to assist those on housing benefit who were unable to afford their rent: discretionary housing payments (DHPs). The numbers of awards were modest, reaching approximately 2,000 in 2002/3, and representing just £21million of expenditure per annum as recently as 2008/9 (source). This same scheme – administered by Local Authorities – now makes more than 390,000 awards per annum and the July budget of 2015 has allocated £800million for their use across the course of this Parliament.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 21st October 2015
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Claimant in R (on the application of Brooks) v LB Islington [2015] EWHC 2657 (Admin) was the mother of 3 children, who applied to the local authority as homeless following her eviction from a housing association property for rent arrears on 24/3/2015. Sadly, Ms B’s adult, terminally ill, son died two days after the offer of interim accommodation that was the subject of this judicial review.’
Nearly Legal, 27th September 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Gateway (Leeds) Management Ltd v (1) Naghash (2) Shamsizadeh [2015] UKUT 333 (LC). If a head leaseholder, or managing company passes on as a service charge, rent charged by a freeholder for property in order to provide services, does this amount to a variable service charge for the purposes of s.18 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and so only payable if the rent costs were reasonably incurred and if the services or works to which they relate were of a reasonable standard?’
Nearly Legal, 8th August 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
If a head leaseholder, or managing company passes on as a service charge, rent charged by a freeholder for property in order to provide services, does this amount to a variable service charge for the purposes of s.18 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and so only payable if the rent costs were reasonably incurred and if the services or works to which they relate were of a reasonable standard?
Nearly Legal, 9th August 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The insurers have won the most recent bout in what has been an ongoing slugfest between them and credit hire organisations (CHOs) for more than 20 years. The Court of Appeal has given guidance about calculating the basic hire rate (BHR) which favours the Insurers.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 2nd June 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘As everyone knows, the court, in the case of a business lease with security of tenure, and subject to certain grounds for refusal, can order the grant of a new business for a term of up to 15 years. The new lease normally now starts from the date of the court order. However there may be a gap between the expiry of the original lease and the start of, or as the case may be, the refusal of a new lease, a gap that may be significant in the case of a hotly contested case. During this interim period, the court can order that the tenant pay an interim rent to the landlord.’
New Square Chambers, 29th July 2015
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘The Tories’ plan to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants will face stiff opposition in the House of Lords this week, amid growing concern that it will compromise the independence of charities and add hugely to government debt.’
The Guardian, 18th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘This is not a usual blog post. I was asked to do an analysis of the proposed £23,000 pa benefit cap, its impact on housing, homelessness and the legal position, with a focus on London, for use elsewhere and for a purpose which shall remain nameless. But I feel this needs wider sharing.’
Nearly Legal, 10th June 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘For reasons that will become clear in this post, rentcharges are a bit of a legal oddity. It has been a new realm for me, but I was intrigued by this case, and wiser members of the NL collective have held my hand as I headed down this particular rabbit hole.’
Nearly Legal, 8th June 0215
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘In cases where the hirer of a car on credit terms is not impecunious, we thought we knew where we stood after Dimond v Lovell [2001] 1AC 384. The Claimant was entitled to recover the ‘spot rate’ or, as the Court of Appeal in Pattni v First Leicester Buses Ltd [2012] RTR 17 insisted, ‘basic hire rate’ or BHR. In Burdis v Livsey [2003] QB 36, three possible ways of calculating the basic hire rate were considered and indeed that consideration was repeated by Aikens LJ in Pattni. Both the Court of Appeal in Burdis and the Court of Appeal in Pattni rejected the mode of calculation of applying a reasonable discount to the credit hire rate charged. That left two methods of calculation. The first, which was not favoured by the Court of Appeal in Burdis, was to break down the charge made by the credit hire company and remove the additional elements from the claim in respect of credit, claim handling and delivery &c. The Court of Appeal in Burdis thought that the cost of working all that out might well be disproportionate. The court in Pattni, however, considered that where the actual credit hire company which had hired the replacement car to the Claimant, disclosed the BHR for that type of car in that area at that time, that might well be the best mode of calculation.’
Zenith PI Blog, 20th May 2015
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
‘The UK is in breach of its own United Nations human rights commitment to provide people with adequate homes because the housing crisis is so serious, a consortium of leading housing charities has warned. They cite soaring housing rental costs, unhealthy conditions in homes, and rising levels of homelessness and warn of “profound issues of lack of supply, increasing housing costs, lack of security of tenure and homes of such poor quality that they are unfit for habitation”.’
The Guardian, 28th April 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘It appears that Barnet Council (via the Mayor’s casting vote) are determined to carry on with their plan to raise rents for council tenants, new and existing, to 80% of market rent or top of LHA rates, whichever is lowest.’
Nearly Legal, 15th April 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A recent decision from the Court of Appeal has caused a sea-change in the ways in which courts will assess the likely cost of basic hire rates (BHRs) when assessing the recoverable damages to be paid under a credit-hire agreement. From now on, the courts will be entitled to calculate BHRs with reference to the lowest reasonable rate charged by a local (to the claimant) main hire company.’
Park Square Barristers, 6th March 2015
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘In Terrace Hill (Berkeley) Ltd v HMRC[1], the First-tier Tribunal (“the FTT”) rejected HMRC’s arguments and concluded that a property developer’s activity in relation to the development of an office property was an investment rather than a trading activity and allowed its appeal.’
RPC Tax Take, 11th March 2015
Source: www.rpc.co.uk
‘In the most important credit hire decision since Bent, the Court of Appeal rules that judges evaluating credit hire claims involving pecunious claimants should adopt the “lowest reasonable rate”.’
Full story (PDF)
Henderson Chambers, March 2015
Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk
‘Traditionally, when assessing recoverable rates, credit hire companies have argued that where a range of comparable basic hire rates (BHR) can be shown from other companies, some of which are higher than the credit hire rate claimed, the Claimant’s credit hire rate should be awarded in full.’
Zenith PI Blog, 16th March 2015
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
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