Archive for July 2010
Council Tax in HMOs
An interesting new case in the High Court which was highlighted by the excellent NearlyLegal blog.
Where a property is an HMO for Council Tax purposes then the lanldord has the primary liability for Council Tax. The test for an HMO is different from t…
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HMOs and Council Tax
Goremsandu, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Harrow [2010] EWHC 1873 (Admin) As many of you will know the definition of an HMO for the purposes of Council Tax is totally different from that used in the Housing Act 2004 (and in relation to planning uses classes). It is, however, an important [...]
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Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice (Second Edition) by Jan Luba and Liz Davies
Our reviewer Giles Peaker (of Anthony Gold solicitors) should be pretty knowledgeable now on housing allocation and homelessness law, as he previously reviewed Andrew Arden’s book on the same subject. What did he make of this one? Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice This is the second edition of this book, written by Jan…
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Residing legally …
An interesting argument emerged before the Court of Appeal in Lekpo-Bozua v Hackney LBC (SoS for Communities and Local Government joined as interested party) [2010] EWCA Civ 909. The issue arose around the difference between, on the one hand, an entitlement to the main housing duty under section 193, Housing Act 1996, to successful homelessness [...]
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Succeeding to a joint tenancy
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council v Hickin [2010] EWCA Civ 868 Where there are two joint tenants of a secure tenancy, of whom one has left and no longer occupies the property, and the remaining tenant in occupation dies, can that tenant’s adult child succeed to the tenancy? Or does the tenancy become vested solely in [...]
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Tenants legal help – is that rent increase valid?
Tenants legal help
As the value of money keeps going down and the cost of things keeps going up, your landlord is at some stage going to want to increase your rent.
That’s understandable, but if you have just received a letter from your landlord setting out a whopping big increase, your first thought (or maybe your [...]
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Lets all move to….Parliament Square
Hall & Ors v Mayor of London (On Behalf of the Greater London Authority) [2010] EWCA Civ 817 (16 July 2010) The case report on the appeal between the Mayor of London and various occupiers of Parliament Square Gardens has appeared on BAILII. For those who don’t live in or near London, Parliament Square Gardens [...]
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Mortgage rescue schemes and Repos: Facts and models
Despite most of our concerned glances at the various mortgage rescue schemes set up by the New Labour government (see NL’s review of Darling’s Keynesian Splurge), Pickles’ decision to review those schemes announced pretty much as soon as he began to warm his seat in DCLoG, the major amount of cash spent on advertising the [...]
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Mortgage Protection Notice Requirements Set Out
Further to our previous post on the bringing into force of the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010 the Statutory Instrument setting out the notifications required to be given to possible tenants or occupiers of the property and …
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Unlawful eviction case – the police finally brought to account
Although unlawful eviction is a criminal offence, many tenants have learned to their cost that it is a fat lot of good appealing to the police. Police action in the past has included: Saying it is a civil matter and nothing to do with them Pitching in and helping the landlord evict the tenant, and…
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