POLICY ISSUES IN HOUSING LAW

Landlord Possession Claims
New research, published this month by Shelter, shows that over the 12 months to September 2015, more than 42,000 renting households were evicted by bailiffs. Shelter said: “Worryingly, these numbers are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. At Shelter we hear from renters who have been served with an eviction notice, and rather than challenging it, incurring court costs and experiencing further heartache, just leave on the date requested by their landlord.” For the report, Renters at Risk, click here

Letting to Migrants
The requirement for private landlords to check the immigration status of prospective tenants takes effect nationally on 1 February 2016. On 4 December 2015, the Home Office published a draft Code of Practice on the Right to Rent Scheme for landlords and their agents. For a copy of the draft, click here

Letting Agent Fees
The enforcement of new rules on the display of letting agent fees charged to tenants and landlords is now subject to “primary authority advice” issued on 23 November 2015 by the Property Ombudsman, the National Federation of Property Professionals and Warwickshire Council. (A primary authority advice, made under the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, must be taken into account by other local authorities when dealing with particular businesses e.g. when carrying out inspections or addressing non-compliance.) For a copy of the advice, click here.

Housing Exclusion
On 4 December 2015, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published International lessons on tackling extreme housing exclusion. The researchers used material from 11 countries to identify solutions to the problem of extreme housing exclusion (homelessness, severe overcrowding, very poor or insecure housing). For a copy of the report, click here

Social Housing Fraud
The Fraud Advisory Panel has published Tackling fraud in the social housing sector  A short guide for directors and senior managers of housing associations. For a copy, click here

Homes for Private Renting
On 4 December 2015, the UK Government published the Housing Debt Guarantee Scheme Rules
(Private Rented Sector). The rules are for the private rented sector debt guarantees which are designed to support the building of new homes for the private rented sector. They enable housing providers to raise debt with a government guarantee, where they commit to purchasing additional new homes for private rent. For a copy of the rules, click here

Shared Ownership
On 7 December 2015, the Prime Minister delivered a speech in which he committed the UK Government to expand shared ownership. He said that from April 2016 anyone earning below £80,000 in England (£90,000 in London) would be eligible to buy a stake in a shared ownership property. He estimated that this could lead175,000 more people into part-ownership. For the full speech, click here

Letting Social Housing to Sharers
The charity CRISIS has published a new toolkit – Spare to Share: A guide to letting and supporting shared tenancies in social housing. It explains how local authority landlords and housing associations can let their properties out to sharers. For a copy, click here

Council Housing Commission
On 2 December 2015, the Local Government Association launched a new Housing Commission to explore routes to housebuilding so that councils can enable the building of more homes. The Commission invites submissions of no more than 3,000 words before 26 February 2016. For more details, click here

Housing Benefit 1
On 7 December 2015, the House of Commons Library published its latest briefing on how the household benefit cap operates (through reductions in housing benefit) and considers evidence of its impact to date. For a copy, click here

Housing Benefit 2
On 1 December 2015, the DWP published the latest issue of its HB Direct newsletter which provides the latest information on policy changes, good practice and initiatives that affect Housing Benefit. For a copy, click here

Private Renting in Wales

The Code of Practice for Landlords and Agents licensed under Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (Appointed Date) Order 2015 appointed 23 November 2015 as the date that the new Code of Practice took effect for private landlords and letting agents in Wales. For a copy of the Order, click here  For a copy of the Code itself, click here

 

HOUSING LAWS IN THE PIPELINE

Housing and Planning Bill
This is a UK Government Bill about social and private rented housing, estate agents, rentcharges, planning and compulsory purchase. For a copy of the Bill, which only applies to housing in England, click here  For the Explanatory Notes, click here  To follow the progress of the Bill, click here  The Bill passed its Second Reading on 2 November 2015. To read the debate, click here  For the House of Commons Library Briefing Paper for Second Reading, click here The official Impact Assessment of the Bill is also now available. For a copy, click here  For a media commentary on the Impact Assessment, click here For the CIH briefing on the Bill (members only), click here For the Local Government Association’s briefing on the Bill, click here  For a summary from Citizens Advice, click here For the LAG Housing Law commentary on the Bill, click here For a commentary by Dr Stephen Battersby, click here

The Bill is now being scrutinised in a Public Bill Committee. That Committee has issued an invitation for evidence on the Bill and will receive written evidence until 10 December 2015. For details of how to submit evidence, click here  To see the record of the public proceedings of the Public Bill Committee  - including the two evidence sessions with witnesses on 10 November 2015 – and to access all the written evidence the Committee has received, click here  For the Equality and Human Rights Commission  briefing in support of Amendment 136  (which seeks to preserve sections 225 and 226 of the Housing Act 2004, which impose a duty on local housing authorities to assess the specific accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers residing or resorting to their area, and provide for guidance on how this is undertaken), click here  

Welfare Reform and Work Bill
This UK Government Bill makes provision about: (1) the benefit cap; (2) social security and tax credits; (3) loans for mortgage interest; and (4) social housing rents. It has completed all its House of Commons stages and is now passing through the House of Lords. For a commentary on the final Commons Stage, click here For the Bill, as amended in the Commons, click here    For the Explanatory Notes for that version of the Bill, click here  To follow the progress of the Bill, click here. For the documents relating to the Bill (including several impact assessments), click here  For a briefing for Lord’s Second Reading prepared by the National Housing Federation, click here For the House of Lords Library Note providing background reading in advance of the Lords Second Reading, click here Detailed examination of the Bill in the Lords started with the first day of the Committee Stage on 2 December 2015 and resumed today, 9 December 2015.

Immigration Bill
This UK Government Bill would create four new offences to target those landlords and agents who repeatedly fail to comply with the ‘right-to-rent scheme’ by letting to tenants subject to immigration restrictions or fail to evict tenants who they know or have reasonable cause to believe are disqualified from renting as a result of their immigration status. For the official Impact Assessment, click here  To follow the progress of the Bill, click here The Bill is now completed its Commons Public Bill Committee Stage. For the schedule of evidence received and debates for that Committee, click here  The Housing Law Practitioners Association has prepared a briefing on clauses 13 and 14 which deal with repossession of tenanted homes. For a copy of that briefing, click here For a Commons Library briefing on developments during the Committee Stage of the Bill, click here The Commons Report and Third Reading stages of the Bill were completed on 1 December 2015.

The Bill has now moved into the House of Lords. For a copy of the Bill as presented in the Lords, click here

Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill 2015
This is a Government Bill introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 7 October 2015. For a copy of the Bill, the Explanatory Notes and related official documents, and to follow the progress of the Bill, click here For the final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment on the Bill, click here For the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment on the Bill, click here For the final Equality Impact Assessment for the Bill, click here For the Briefing on the Bill produced by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, click here The Bill is now awaiting the report of Lead Committee on the Bill, the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee. For the evidence submitted to that Committee by the Chartered Institute of Housing (Scotland), click here

Renting Homes (Wales) Bill
This is a Welsh Government Bill introduced in the Welsh Assembly. The Bill has completed all its Stages and has been passed by the Assembly. For the final version of the Bill, click here and scroll to ‘Stage 4’ The Revised Explanatory Memorandum is also accessible from that page. The Bill now awaits Royal Assent.

Housing (Amendment) Bill
This is a Bill introduced in the Assembly on 30 June 2015 by the Northern Ireland Executive. It would make provision for the better sharing of information relating to empty homes or to anti-social behaviour and provide for the registration of certain loans as statutory charges. For a copy of the Bill, click here For the explanatory memorandum (listed under ‘All associated documents and links’), click here  For a commentary on the Bill, click here The Bill has been referred to the Committee for Social Development which has responsibility for the Committee Stage of the Bill. For further details of that stage, click here . To read the evidence submitted to the Committee, click here The Bill passed its second stage on 9 November 2015. To read that debate, click here (the debate began at 1 pm). To follow progress of the Bill, click here The Committee on the Bill is due to report by 11 January 2016.

Houses in Multiple Occupation Bill
This is a Bill introduced in the Assembly on 7 September 2015 by the Northern Ireland Executive.  It would make provision for and in connection with the licensing of houses in multiple occupation in Northern Ireland. For a copy of the Bill, click here For the explanatory memorandum, click here  To follow the progress of the Bill, click here A Second Stage delate is being re-scheduled.

Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill
This is a Private Members Bill introduced by Karen Buck MP. It would amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to require that residential rented accommodation is provided and maintained in a state of fitness for human habitation. For a copy of the Bill, click here   It had its Second Reading on 16 October 2015 but was talked-out. It is again listed for a Second Reading on 29 January 2016. For details on the (unlikely) future progress of the Bill, click here For a lawyer’s commentary on its content, click here For the Shelter Blog on the Bill and its importance, click here For a commentary from Dr Stephen Battersby, click here For the House of Commons Library Briefing on the Bill, click here  For the MP’s own perspective on her Bill being talked-out, click here For the response of the MP who talked-out the Bill, click here

Local Government Finance (Tenure Information) Bill
This is a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Dame Angela Watkinson MP. It would amend the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to make provision for collecting information about tenure and the details of private landlords. For a copy of the Bill, click here

It had a First Reading on 24 June 2015 and its Second Reading has been re-scheduled for 22 January 2016. For details on the progress of the Bill, click here For the Briefing Paper prepared by the House of Commons Library, click here

Crown Tenancies Bill
This is a Private Members Bill introduced by Mark Pawsey MP. It would provide that Crown tenancies (mainly of properties owned by Government Departments) may be assured tenancies for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988, subject to certain exceptions, and would modify the assured tenancies regime in relation to certain Crown tenancies (including by provision of a new ground for possession).  It had a First Reading on 24 June 2015 and its Second Reading had been scheduled for 11 September 2015 but was objected-to and has now been put back to 22 January 2016. For a copy of the Bill, click here For the Explanatory Notes, click here  For details on the progress of the Bill, click here For the House of Commons Library Briefing note that has been prepared for the Second Reading, click here

 

NEW HOUSING CASES

Moorjani v Durban Estates Ltd
4 December 2015
A tenant brought a claim for damages for his landlord’s failure to carry out repairs. His flat was not rendered uninhabitable but he chose not to occupy it until the repair work was completed. The trial judge refused to award damages for that period in respect of discomfort and inconvenience. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and awarded damages. The judgment reviews the whole of the modern law on damages for disrepair (Calabar, Wallace, Earle, etc) and restates the basis of the award of such damages in residential accommodation cases. The judgment is available on LAWTEL and noted on WESTLAW.

Mulvenna and Smith v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
4 December 2015
The claimants were gypsies. They applied for planning permission to establish their homes on green belt land. Permission was refused. They appealed. The Secretary of State called-in their appeals and determined them himself. The appeals were dismissed. In an earlier test case, it was held that the policy of calling-in planning appeals in gypsy cases was unlawful and discriminatory. These claimants sought judicial review of the decisions in their cases. The High Court held: (1) they were too late to challenge the call-ins on their cases; (2) the Secretary of State had no power to re-open the decisions he had made; and (3) the fact that the call-in process was unlawful did not undermine the legal validity of the individual final appeal decisions. For the judgment, click here

Sinclair Gardens Investments (Kensington) Ltd v Ray
2 December 2015
Mrs Ray applied to extend the lease on her flat. A First-tier Tribunal had to fix the price to be paid. It followed and applied an earlier decision of the Upper Tribunal in making its assessment. The landlord appealed. The Court of Appeal held that earlier decisions of the Upper Tribunal are admissible in evidence in a First-tier Tribunal and it was for the lower tribunal to determine what weight to give such decisions. The appeal was dismissed. For the judgment, click here

Marks and Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd
2 December 2015
A fixed-term lease was granted to expire on 2 February 2018. The rent was payable in advance on the usual quarter days. The tenant exercised its right (under a break clause) to determine the lease on 24 January 2012, after it had paid the full quarter's rent due on 25 December 2011. The issue was whether it could recover from the landlords the apportioned rent in respect of the period from 24 January to 24 March 2012. In the Supreme Court, the resolution of that issue turned on the interpretation of the lease and consideration of the principles by reference to which a term is to be implied into a contract. The judgment is now the leading authority on implying terms into leases. For a copy, click here

Engeham v London and Quadrant Housing Ltd
1 December 2015
The claimant tenant was injured when her bathroom ceiling collapsed on her. She entered into a Conditional Fee Agreement (CHA) with solicitors instructed to pursue a claim against the first defendant, her landlord. In the claim, she joined a plumber as second defendant.  The claim was settled against both defendants on payment of £10,000 by the second defendant, plus costs  A costs officer later found that the CFA did not cover the claim against the second defendant. The county court allowed an appeal. The second defendant appealed to the Court of Appeal. It dismissed the appeal and upheld the order allowing the claimant to recover her solicitors' costs from the second defendant. The judgment is noted on LAWTEL and WESTLAW. For legal comment on it, click here

Salix Homes v Kelly Chapman
1 December, 2015
On 6 November 2015 the defendant went to the offices of St Vincent’s Housing Association to return the keys to a property on behalf of a third party. While there, she began behaving in an aggressive and abusive manner towards housing staff, shouting expletives and offensive insults. She made threats of violence towards members of staff and said she would “burn down” the property she was handing in the keys for. She told one employee she would be waiting outside for her when she finished work and threatened to “do her in the car park”. At Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the county court granted a 12 month injunction prohibiting her from: (1) threatening violence towards employees at St Vincent’s; (2) using abusive or insulting behaviour against any members of staff; and  (3) entering the building or car park area of St Vincent’s. For more details of the claim, click here

Fairbairn v Etal Court Maintenance Ltd
30 November 2015
The company was the landlord of a block of flats. A tenant brought a claim for the enforcement of the company’s repairing obligations. The company settled the case, paying compensation and legal costs.  It then sought to recover from the other tenants, as part of a service charge payable by them, both its own legal costs and the sums which it paid in settlement of the proceedings. The service charge clause allowed recovery of the costs of “all other acts and things for the proper management administration and maintenance of the blocks of flats as the Lessor in its sole discretion shall think fit.” A First-tier Tribunal held that the charges were recoverable but granted permission to appeal because it was arguable that the costs of unsuccessfully defending a claim for damages for breach of a landlord’s repairing covenant were not recoverable under a clause entitling the landlord to the costs of acts done for the proper management, maintenance and administration of the block of flats. The Upper Tribunal allowed the appeal. The First-tier Tribunal was wrong in its conclusion that the settlement sum, and the legal costs incurred in securing the settlement, could form part of the service charge under this lease. For the judgment, click here  For a legal commentary on the decision, click here

Health & Safety Executive v Abdul Manik
27 November 2015
The defendant was a private landlord. Plymouth City Council asked him to produce annual gas safety certificates for a number of flats in his property.  Nothing was provided. The HSE served an Improvement Notice, requiring him to undertake a landlord’s gas safety check and maintenance. But in December 2014, a gas engineer found serious problems with the gas boiler and notified the HSE. The boiler was classified as ‘immediately dangerous’ and was replaced by the council after the defendant failed to undertake the necessary repairs. At Plymouth Magistrates’ Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to breaches of regulations 36(2) and 36(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and section 33(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined a total of £20,000 with costs of £2,817. For details of the prosecution, click here

West End Investments (Cowell Group) Ltd v Birchlea Ltd
27 November 2015
Birchlea gave notice to enfranchise (obtain the freehold of) a house of which it was the tenant. The landlord relied on the exclusion in section 2(2) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 Act which applies "to a house which is not structurally detached and of which a material part lies above or below a part of the structure not comprised in the house." It said that the position of a particular wall meant that a material part of the house lay above or below a part of a structure not comprised in the house. The judge decided that there was no relevant overhang or underhang, or if there was, it was de minimis. The landlord’s appeal to the High Court failed. The judge had been right for the reasons that he gave. For the judgment, click here

Health & Safety Executive v Gary Redman
26 November 2015
The defendant was in control of roofing works above a flat occupied by a tenant. The tenant later tried to use a boiler but found it did not work. On investigating, the tenant saw that the flue had been removed completely where it passed through the roof and later saw the flue had been replaced in the hole in the flat roof but not re-connected to the boiler. The work was checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer who classed the flue as ‘immediately dangerous’ and contacted the HSE. At Plymouth Magistrates’ Court, the defendant was found guilty of breaching section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £3,000 with £2,500 costs. For details of the prosecution, click here

Cornwall Council v Justin Hedley Paull
25 November 2015
The defendant was a private landlord of a house in multiple occupation (HMO). Inspections by council officers revealed two category 1 hazards (for falls between levels and excess cold), a category 2 hazard (for fire) and a number of breaches of the Management Regulations. The defendant was served with Improvement Notices and a Management Regulations letter but failed to resolve the issues within the given timescales. At Truro Magistrates’ Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to the offences of failing to comply with three Improvement Notices and for breaching Regulation 8(4)(b) of The Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Additional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2007.  He was fined a total of £3,200 with costs of £1,705.52, a £120 victim surcharge and a £150 court charge. For details of the prosecution, click here

Rollinson v Dudley Council
17 November 2015
The claimant was a disabled man living in a group of bungalows adapted for the elderly or infirm. When walking from his home to his car, he slipped on a patch of moss on the footpath and was injured. He brought a claim for damages against the council as highway authority. He said the moss rendered the path “out of repair” and the council was thereby in breach of its statutory duty to maintain the highway: section 41 Highways Act 1980. The trial judge held that the moss had rooted in the highway surface. As a result, it was “out of repair” and the council was liable. The High Court allowed the council’s appeal. Moss was a temporary or transitory problem and its presence did not cause the highway to be out of repair. A construction of section 41 to render the council liable to clear moss from all paths at all times was absurd. For the judgment, click here

HOUSING LAW CONSULTATIONS   

Houses in Multiple Occupation
On 6 November 2015, the UK Government published a technical discussion paper setting out options for extending the scope of mandatory licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in England. It also sets out our proposals to streamline the HMO licensing process. The closing date for comments is 18 December 2015. For a copy of the consultation paper, click here For the on-line response form, click here

Private renting in Northern Ireland
On 12 November 2015, the Assembly Government published a discussion document on proposals to review the regulation of the private rented sector in Northern Ireland. For a copy of the document, click here For the questionnaire, click here  Responses are sought by 5 February 2016. To make an on-line response, click here For information about public meetings being held as part of the consultation process, click here

 

NEW HOUSING LAW ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS

All 2,708,611 HA tenants should take up their right to buy Joe Halewood [2015] Welfarerights Blog. 5 December. To read the article, click here

Advertising property rental fees: Explained Avghi Theocharous [2015] Committee of Advertising Practice Blog 11 November. To read the article, click here

Concern over social tenant HB cap Heather Spurr [2015] Inside Housing 26 November. To read the article, click here

English tenants face eviction threat every 90 seconds, charity claims Nadia Khomami [2015] Guardian Money 3 December. To read the article, click here

Housing tenant: I thought I was going to die Anna Collinson [2015] BBC Newsbeat Blog I December. To read the article (and watch the video), click here

Heavily pregnant teen gets evicted just before Christmas by her ''heartless'' vicar landlord [2015] Western Daily Press. 3 December. To read the article, click here  

Why Sunderland GPs are prescribing boilers instead of pills Dawn Foster [2015] Guardian Housing Network 3 December. To read the article, click here

Living in a rabbit hutch – the future of housing? Dawn Foster [2015] Guardian Housing Network 4 December. To read the article, click here

Lambeth wanted to demolish our homes. We said it was illegal – and we were right Joanne Parkes [2015] Guardian Housing Network  30 November. To read the article, click here

I’m a tenant, a loser by today's standards. But I won't shut up Elizabeth Spring [2015] Guardian Housing Network 1 December. To read the article, click here

University awards students further £300,000 over rat-infested housing Natalie Gil [2015] Guardian Student  30 November. To read the article, click here

Are young people to be locked out of social housing altogether?Ella Wesolowicz [2015] The CRISIS Blog 2 December. To read the article, click here

What happens if homeless families are hit by the benefit cap? Jenny Pennington [2015] The Shelter Policy Blog 1 December. To read the article, click here

New anti-social behaviour law used at Weaver Vale Housing Trust Caroline Howarth [2015] 24dash.com Blog 2 December. To read the article, click here

The solution to the housing crisis? Julian Boswall and Alex Minhinick [2015] 159 Solicitors Journal No.45 pp 33-34 To read the article, click here  

The treatment of inherent defects in leases Raymond Cooper [2015] Conveyancer and Property Lawyer pp 504-511

Recent Developments in Housing Law Jan Luba QC & Nic Madge [2015] December issue of Legal Action magazine. Available in print and on-line for Legal Action subscribers. To read the article on-line, click here For back-issues of this series of articles, click here

 

THE HOUSING LAW DIARY

10 December 2015          
Deadline for submission of evidence on the Housing & Planning Bill (see Housing laws in the pipeline above)

18 December 2015          
Close of consultation on HMOs in England (see Housing Law Consultations above)

5 February 2016         
Close of consultation on the private rented sector in Northern Ireland (see Housing Law Consultations above)