An inconvenient problem – Nearly Legal

Posted June 12th, 2015 in benefits, homelessness, housing, local government, news, rent by sally

‘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.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 10th June 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Dear Occupier – Nearly Legal

Posted June 9th, 2015 in costs, housing, land registration, mortgages, news, rent by tracey

‘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.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 8th June 0215

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Credit Hire Simplified? – Zenith PI Blog

Posted May 21st, 2015 in appeals, consumer credit, damages, news, rent by sally

‘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.’

Full story

Zenith PI Blog, 20th May 2015

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

UK housing crisis ‘in breach of human rights’ – The Guardian

Posted April 28th, 2015 in charities, housing, human rights, news, rent, reports by sally

‘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”.’

Full story

The Guardian, 28th April 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Rents and Equality. Barnet, again – Nearly Legal

‘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.’

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Nearly Legal, 15th April 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Credit hire rates. Are they basically the same? – Park Square Barristers

Posted March 19th, 2015 in appeals, insurance, news, rent, road traffic by sally

‘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.’

Full story

Park Square Barristers, 6th March 2015

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

Tribunal finds in favour of property developer who was not trading – RPC Tax Take

Posted March 19th, 2015 in appeals, HM Revenue & Customs, news, rent, tribunals by sally

‘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.’

Full story

RPC Tax Take, 11th March 2015

Source: www.rpc.co.uk

Credit Hire Update: Stevens v Equity Syndicate Management Limited – Henderson Chambers

Posted March 17th, 2015 in appeals, insurance, news, rent, road traffic by sally

‘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

BIG News In Credit Hire – The Court of Appeal rules that recoverable BHR for Claimant will be the lowest reasonable rate charged by comparable hire companies – Zenith PI Blog

Posted March 17th, 2015 in appeals, consumer credit, insurance, news, rent by sally

‘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.’

Full story

Zenith PI Blog, 16th March 2015

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

Expectations are not existing facts – Nearly Legal

‘Enfield LBC v Najim (2015) CA (Civ Div) 04/03/2015. This was Enfield’s appeal from a s.204 appeal quashing Enfield’s decision and review decision that Ms N was intentionally homeless.’

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Nearly Legal, 5th March 2015

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

Speech by HHJ Jarman: Administrative Court in Wales – Challenges and Opportunities – Judiciary of England and Wales

‘His Honour Judge Jarman QC gave a speech “Administrative Court in Wales: Challenges and Opportunities” at Swansea University on 19 November 2014.’

Full speech

Judiciary of England and Wales, 6th March 2015

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Proposed changes to S.21 – NearlyLegal

Posted February 9th, 2015 in bills, housing, landlord & tenant, news, notification, rent, repossession by sally

‘As well as the clauses introducing the retaliatory eviction proposals, the Government’s proposed amendments to the Deregulation Bill would make some other changes to s.21. The effects would be:

No s.21 notice can be served within the first 4 months of the shorthold tenancy, thus ending the all too widespread practice of serving a s.21 at the time the tenancy agreement is signed (though I’d still say that was probably caught by the deposit rules). The proposals also make clear that possession proceedings cannot be begun before 6 months from the start of the tenancy (that disposes of an idea some bright spark landlords had, that it was OK to start proceedings before 6 months so long as the possession order was made after the 6 month date).’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 8th February 2015

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

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

Housing experts call for clampdown on rogue landlords – BBC News

Posted September 1st, 2014 in housing, landlord & tenant, news, rent, standards by sally

‘Housing experts have called for minimum standards to be better enforced in the private rental market to stop landlords exploiting vulnerable tenants.’

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BBC News, 30th August 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Regina v Ali (Salah) – WLR Daily

Regina v Ali (Salah) [2014] EWCA Crim 1658; [2014] WLR (D) 366

‘It was permissible for the statutory assumptions in section 10 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to be applied in a case where a defendant was either voluntarily or involuntarily absent through illness.’

WLR Daily, 31st August 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The UT Repays Again – NearlyLegal

Posted July 7th, 2014 in appeals, landlord & tenant, licensing, news, rent, repayment, tribunals, utilities by sally

The Upper Tribunal has again found itself considering the issue of Rent Repayment Orders and has provided some further enlightenment on its position after the case of Parker v Waller.

Full story

NearlyLegal, 6th July 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

On the naughty step: The unacceptable face of London landlords – NearlyLegal

Posted June 13th, 2014 in benefits, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news, rent, unfair contract terms by sally

‘Some of you, those in London at least, might have noticed Boris Johnson announce a new, and completely voluntary, no compulsion here, landlord accreditation scheme. The idea being that tenants, desperate to find somewhere in the middle of the worst accommodation shortage in London for many, many years, will choose to avoid a ‘non-Boris’ landlord. This is of dubious worth, but no matter, what concerns us here is what followed that announcement. Bear with me, because it is worth it in the end.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 12th June 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Approximate grounds – NearlyLegal

Posted May 19th, 2014 in appeals, housing, interpretation, landlord & tenant, news, rent, repossession by sally

‘When a notice is served under Section 8 Housing Act 1988, how precise does the wording of the ground(s) under which possession will be sought have to be?’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 18th May 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk