Archive for October 2009
But everybody did it…
Serious Organised Crime Agency v Pelekanos [2009] EWHC 2307 (QB)
Just a quick note to observe that this case – well off our usual patch – makes clear that a significant misrepresentation on a mortgage application that would be likely to induce the lender to enter into the contact (and this can be inferred by the [...]
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Housing benefit – 8 weeks arrears can be in advance
Many thanks to the Nearly Legal Blog for reporting this Housing Benefit Appeal case which will be of great interest to all landlords whose tenants’ rent is paid by Housing Benefit (HB) /local housing allowance (LHA).
Landlords can require the HB to be paid direct if the rent is more than 8 weeks in arrears under [...]
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How many weeks make 8?
Doncaster v Coventry City Council, First Tier Tribunal 032/09/00932, 5 October 2009.
A copy of the decision is currently available here and a gloss here.
This was an appeal of a review decision addressing at what point a tenant is in 8 weeks arrears for the purposes of the landlord applying to the Benefit Authority for [...]
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A housing uncooperative?
The case of Mexfield Housing Co-Operative v Berrisford [2009] EWHC 2392 (Ch) illustrates the potentially precarious situation in which the tenant of a fully-mutual Housing Co-operative may find themselves.
The facts are simple. Miss Berrisford had been a tenant of Mexfield since 1993, she had difficulty with her rent so that she fell into arrears [...]
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Unfair but not unsatisfactory
Morgan and another v Fletcher and others LRX/81/2008 is an important decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (aka the Lands Tribunal) on the scope of s.35, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
As you’ll remember, Part 4, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 confers power on an LVT to vary a residential lease in circumstances where the [...]
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Continuity of tenancy
London Borough of Lewisham -v- Litchmore. 2 October 2009, Bromley County Court
Since the beginning of replacement tenancies on May 2009, there have, rather surprisingly, not been any reports on cases involving the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 Schedule 11 s.21 – when the new tenancy and the original tenancy are to be treated as the [...]
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Way too secure
Gauci v Malta [2009] ECHR 1280 [Link is to rtf]
Hat-tip to the Garden Court Bulletin for this one.
Mr G owned a property in Malta. It had been let under a 25 year tenancy agreement in 1975. On the expiry of that agreement, the tenants, who owed other property themselves, were able to exercise a right [...]
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Rogue letting agents
There is an interesting article in the most recent (July 09) issue of Property Investor News about rogue letting agents.
For example the journalist (Donia O’Loughlin) interviewed Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action. He reports a huge increase in instructions from landlords seeking to recover money from their agents, and it looks as if many [...]
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