Lettings agents ‘breaking the law’ by not revealing fees – The Independent
“Lettings agents have been accused of breaking the law by not revealing their fees to renters.”
The Independent, 5th March 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Category: rent
Regina (Zacchaeus 2000 Trust) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – WLR Daily
“The regime for the provision of housing benefit to private sector tenants enabled the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to cap increases in permitted levels of housing benefit by reference to the general rate of inflation.”
WLR Daily, 15th February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Room without review: Thoughts on tackling the bedroom tax – NearlyLegal
“With the beginning of the bedroom tax looming up for April and upwards of 700,000 households affected, I’ve been thinking about the position when the inevitable rent arrears possessions start to appear – probably by about October – and also whether the statute itself is open to challenge.”
NearlyLegal, 10th February 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Pub industry adjudicator plans put forward – BBC News
“The government has announced plans for an independent adjudicator in the pub industry to help struggling landlords.”
BBC News, 8th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Landlord John Tatton forced girl to ‘pay’ for rent in sexual favours – BBC News
“A landlord who forced a teenage girl to ‘pay’ for her rent with sexual favours has been jailed for four years.”
BBC News, 7th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Changes to stamp duty land tax sub-sale rules will affect commercial transactions, said expert – OUT-LAW.com
“Changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) sub-sale rules announced as part of the draft Finance Bill ‘will introduce complexity and uncertainty into commercial transactions’ said John Christian, a property tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.”
OUT-LAW.com, 11th December 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
Give Me Back My Money – NearlyLegal
“We bring you two interesting reports from the world of Rent Repayment Orders. Briefly, these stem from a power under s73 and 74 of the Housing Act 2004. These sections allow a Residential Property Tribunal to award a tenant or local authority the return of rent or housing benefits where the landlord has been operating an unlicensed HMO.”
NearlyLegal, 28th November 2012
Sourc: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
Inside justice: London Rent Assessment Panel – The Guardian
“Samir Jeraj observes an independent panel settle private rental disputes, including a rare case of a flat with ‘fair rent’ controls.”
The Guardian, 30th October 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Addressing the issue – Hardwicke Chambers
“The appeal in Beitov Properties Ltd v Elliston Bentley Martin [2012] UKUT 133 (LC) highlights three issues for landlords: compliance with s47 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987, remedying non-compliance, and the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal’s procedure and jurisdiction.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 12th October 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Service charges can form part of rent for VAT purposes where transactions “closely linked” – OUT-LAW.com
“Charges for cleaning and maintenance in respect of a commercial property lease may be treated as part of the rental of that property, and therefore exempt from value added tax (VAT), where the two charges are ‘closely linked’, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 27th September 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
Pay To Stay: A potential can of worms in social housing reform – Hardwicke Chambers
“‘For far too long, millions of people on waiting lists have watched helplessly as high-earning social tenants continue to occupy homes designed to help the most vulnerable…if they want to continue using this precious national resource, they will pay for the privilege.’
When the then Housing and Local Government Minister, Grant Shapps MP, launched a consultation on giving social landlords the power to charge market rents to high income tenants on 13 June 2012, he did so using deliberately strong language.”
Harwicke Chambers, 13th September 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Case law argues London’s priced out tenants are ‘homeless’ – The Guardian
“Legal precedent demands that tenants unable to meet unaffordable housing costs are legally homeless. What does this mean in today’s London?”
The Guardian, 21st August 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Company entitled to use rent free period in the first five years for valuation purposes, tribunal finds – OUT-LAW.com
“A Valuation Tribunal has rejected an approach by assessors that would have increased the business rates paid by a City firm by 20% over the first five years of a lease.”
OUT-LAW.com, 20th July 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
In re MK Airlines Ltd (in liquidation); MK Airlines Property Ltd (in administration) v Katz and another – WLR Daily
“Arrears of rent due during the provisional liquidation period were to be treated as an expense of the liquidation and payable in priority to most other liquidation expenses.”
WLR Daily, 16th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Canwell Estate Co Ltd v Smith Brothers Farms Ltd – WLR Daily
Canwell Estate Co Ltd v Smith Brothers Farms Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 237; [2012] WLR (D) 59
“The prohibition introduced by the Rentcharges Act 1977 against creation of new rentcharges by a rent owner against a landowner did not apply to the creation of a rentcharge incorporated in a transfer made in 1990 the amount of which was calculated annually as a fixed proportion of the claimant’s costs, expenses and outgoings incurred in fulfilling its obligations under a covenant to cleanse, repair, maintain and as often as might be reasonably necessary renew, inter alia, all the roads on an estate, even though part of such service extended to land which was not owned by the party liable to pay the charge and to roads over which he had no right of way.”
WLR Daily, 2nd March 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Subletting council houses could become criminal offence – The Guardian
“Council tenants are to be banned from subletting their properties as the government prepares to introduce criminal offences to crack down on the ‘scandal’ of housing tenancy fraud and abuse.”
The Guardian, 1st January 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Nowhere to run: insolvency is no protection from possession proceedings – Zenith Chambers
“Social landlords face a constant struggle trying to persuade heavily indebted tenants that paying rent is a priority over paying off the tenants’ bigger, more threatening creditors.”
Full story (PDF)
Zenith Chambers, 13th September 2011
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
Tristmire Ltd v Mew and another – WLR Daily
Tristmire Ltd v Mew and another [2011] EWCA Civ 912; [2011] WLR (D) 271
“A houseboat placed on a supporting platform in a harbour did not have a degree of permanence such as to make it part of the plot on which the platform stood so that a tenancy or licence of the plot would extend to the houseboat.”
WLR Daily, 28th July 2011
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Schröder v Finanzamt Hameln – WLR Daily
Schröder v Finanzamt Hameln (Case C-450/09); [2011] WLR (D) 121
“National legislation which allowed a resident taxpayer to deduct the annuities paid to a relative who had transferred immovable property to him, from the rental income derived from that property, but did not grant such a deduction to a non-resident taxpayer, was contrary to article 63FEU of the FEU Treaty in so far as the undertaking to pay those annuities resulted from the transfer of that property.”
WLR Daily, 31st March 2011
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Hughes v Borodex Ltd – WLR Daily
Hughes v Borodex Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 425; [2010] WLR (D) 106
“A tenant who had made extensive improvements at her own expense to the flat which she held on a long residential tenancy was not entitled to have those improvements disregarded by a Rent Assessment Committee fixing the rent of the new assured periodic tenancy of the same premises. On the proper interpretation of Sch 10 to the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the improvements fell to be taken into account even though the effect was that the new rent as assessed exceeded the statutory maximum for protection as an assured tenant, the tenant lost her protection and the landlord became entitled to serve a notice to quit.”
WLR Daily, 28th April 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
