Three county court cases – all first instance judgments and non-binding, but each of interest, including the first two fitness for human habitation decisions that have come our way and a complicating decision on gas safety certificates and section 21 notices.
Nearly Legal, 19th November 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Since the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force, with its Schedule 8 prohibition on landlords recovering service charge for certain cladding and other defect remediation works, the Government has produced and updated guidance for leaseholders on whether they would have to pay for remediation and whether remediation works would be done. Some of that guidance does not sit easily with the effect of the Act, however.’
Falcon Chambers, 9th October 2023
Source: www.falcon-chambers.com
‘One of the things that may be surprising about remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, both potentially expensive pieces of litigation that leaseholders may be forced to pursue, is that the FtT’s jurisdiction on costs is the “no costs” jurisdiction under rule 13 of its Rules. Costs (beyond payment of application fees) can only be awarded by the FtT if a party has behaved unreasonably, a high threshold, or for wasted costs (likewise). Although the Building Safety Act 2022 did not expressly say that the FtT was to have this no costs jurisdiction (rather than its costs jurisdictions for example in relation to its Land Registration or telecoms), amendments to the Rules from 1 November 2022 make express which jurisdictions can have real cost implications. The new Building Safety Act jurisdictions are not included.’
Falcon Chambers, 18th September 2023
Source: www.falcon-chambers.com
‘Jonathan Upton looks at the recent case of Alma Property Management Ltd v Crompton which illustrates the importance of considering the rights and obligations of each party in whose capacity one acts and pleading the case accordingly.’
Tanfield Chambers, 28th September 2023
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘The Claimant was a self-confessed “non-professional” landlord in that they had a single property they let out to a tenant. They were not, for example a sizeable social landlord with years of experience and many resources.’
Park Square Barristers, 14th September 2023
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘Kedai Ltd, the landlord of a London residential development, has been ordered by the First-tier Tribunal to carry out remediation under the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022 in the case of 2-4 Leigham Court Road, Streatham.’
Tanfield Chambers, 14th September 2023
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘Robert Bowker and Jeremy Weaver, an associate director at Bradys Solicitors analyse the recent case of St John Street Property Services Group v Riverside Group Ltd.’
Tanfield Chambers, 11th September 2023
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration at Newham Council over how it dealt with damp and mould, with the London borough taking more than three years to fix the issue.’
Local Government Lawyer, 22nd August 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Priory Heights, a former tax office, is over 29 metres high, was converted from commercial to residential use between 2003 and 2008, and contains 64 flats. It contains two staircases one of which is external and covered in combustible HPL cladding. It is indisputable that the cladding must be removed and replaced. The necessary remediation measures also include compartmentation and fire stopping work in the building’s common parts.’
Tanfield Chambers, 20th July 2023
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘Rob Bowker looks at who will apply and who will pay for remediation and remediation contribution orders under the Building Safety Act 2022.’
Tanfield Chambers, 4th July 2023
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘One of Britain’s biggest social landlords has been ordered to pay tenants more than £140,000 in compensation as a special investigation by the housing ombudsman revealed it was “dismissive” of tenants and found “severe maladministration” including in tackling disrepair and antisocial behaviour.’
The Guardian, 27th July 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Social Housing (Regulation) Act received Royal Assent last week (20 July) with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) claiming that the legislation will “strengthen powers to tackle failing social landlords, and tenants living in unsafe homes will be better supported by the Regulator”.’
Local Government Lawyer, 25th July 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Housing Ombudsman has told Livv Housing Group to pay a resident nearly £3,000 in compensation after its delayed repairs and inability to inspect the source of the issue left him in a damp and leaky home for four years.’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th July 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Housing Ombudsman has sharply criticised a landlord for repeatedly failing to have sufficient regard for its obligations under the Equality Act 2010, and told it to review how it issues section 21 notices.’
Local Government Lawyer, 12th July 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A move to strengthen social housing rules in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of a toddler from exposure to mould is set to become law.’
BBC News, 27th June 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Twenty years ago today, on 26 June 2003, each of the five Law Lords in Aston Cantlow v Wallbank [2004] 1 AC 546 gave separate, detailed opinions on a matter at the cusp of public law and private law. Was the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of a beautiful parish church in Warwickshire responsible for the cost of necessary repairs to its fabric, or were the owners of a neighbouring farm subject to chancel repair liability? The church of St John the Baptist, Aston Cantlow, some three miles outside Stratford-upon-Avon, dated from Saxon times. In the first Elizabethan era, it is where William Shakespeare’s parents were married. In the second Elizabethan era, it attracted a judicial inquiry into the very nature of the Church of England.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 26th June 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Twenty years ago today, on 26 June 2003, each of the five Law Lords in Aston Cantlow v Wallbank [2004] 1 AC 546 gave separate, detailed opinions on a matter at the cusp of public law and private law. Was the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of a beautiful parish church in Warwickshire responsible for the cost of necessary repairs to its fabric, or were the owners of a neighbouring farm subject to chancel repair liability? The church of St John the Baptist, Aston Cantlow, some three miles outside Stratford-upon-Avon, dated from Saxon times. In the first Elizabethan era, it is where William Shakespeare’s parents were married. In the second Elizabethan era, it attracted a judicial inquiry into the very nature of the Church of England.’
UK Constitutional Law Association , 26th June 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Six months after the conclusion of the inquest into the tragic death of Awaab Ishak, Matthew Bown and Amy Cowap outline the various measures set to be implemented to ensure tighter regulation of registered providers of social housing, with a specific focus on damp and mould issues.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A housing association criticised over the death of a toddler treated its residents in “dismissive, inappropriate or unsympathetic ways”, a report says.’
BBC News, 28th March 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Queen’s Speech 2022 committed to a Bill in the 2022-23 session to abolish ‘no-fault’ section 21 evictions in the private rented sector. This paper covers developments to date.’
House of Commons Library, 7th March 2023
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2023