Archive for February 2011
Potemkin Villages*
Westminster Council have long had a problem with homelessness. I’m sure you will recall the Westminster Council’s housing leader’s letters to Grant Shapps of last year, imploring him to let them discharge duty by offering an out of borough private tenancy. Then there was Westminster’s prediction that homelessness from private accommodation would double as a [...]
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You gotta have an opinion
Hounslow v Powell; Leeds v Hall; Birmingham v Frisby [2011] UKSC 8 [This is probably a work in progress. There may be further additions and comments as people get a chance/have a brainwave. We've also ended up writing this as something of a tag team. Chief did most of it and starts us off.] Sometime [...]
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Breaking Out!
In MW Trustees Limited and Others v Telular Corporation, the landlords sought a declaration that the tenants had failed to effectively serve a notice to terminate pursuant to a break clause.
The break clause read as follows:
If the Tenant shall wish t…
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Hounslow v Powell newsflash
The judgment in London Borough of Hounslow v Powell [2011] UKSC 8 (Aka, Powell, Hall and Frisby) is out. We have a detailed post coming shortly on this significant judgment on proportionality defences after Pinnock, but for now, the headlines are: Introductory tenancies – These are caught under the proportionality defence. S.127(2) Housing Act 1996 to [...]
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Case Comment: Global Process Systems Inc & Anor v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad [2011] UKSC 5
As we reported in our case preview, at issue in Global Process Systems is the meaning of “inherent vice”, which is a risk typically excluded from cover under marine cargo and many non-marine “all risks” insurance policies.
Backg…
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Mortgage repossession – help from Ben Reeve Lewis
If you are a regular reader you will know Ben Reeve Lewis – my regular guest blogger who talks about his experiences as a tenancy relations officer in south east London. However it now seems as if his worst opponents may not be the thug landlord with the lead piping, but organisations which we all…
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It’s not how long it is…
…but what you do at the end of it that counts* FMB (EEA reg 6(2)(a) – ‘temporarily unable to work’) Uganda [2010] UKUT 447 (IAC) The Immigration and Asylum Tribunal (Upper Chamber) is not our usual stamping ground, but this is a decision which has considerable broader significance for housing and benefit eligibility. It dates [...]
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Well I do declare
Hat tip to Christian at the Estates Gazette Law blog for this one. Crown Estates are to sell their London ‘social’ residential estates to Peabody Trust. It appears that they are now urgently seeking a tenant to bring forward a test case for a declaration in the High Court as to the effect of sections [...]
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Unreasonable bungalow
Anya Thompson v Mendip District Council, Taunton County Court 3 December 2010 [Unreported elsewhere]. This was the s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal of a decision by Mendip DC that its offer of a two bedroom bungalow was an offer of suitable accommodation under s.206 of the Act and, therefore, it was right to discharge duty [...]
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More Safety Legislation?
The Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill is currently before Parliament. It’s objective is to ensure that all rented residential properties have a fire detection system which complies with modern standards. This means that all landlords will …
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