Lime
Legal's General Editor: Jan Luba QC |
|||
11th November 2015 Update |
|||
Speakers - an outstanding line-up of some of the country’s top experts:
Jan Luba
QC,
(Garden Court chambers) Chairman and
lead speaker,
Peter Marcus,
barrister, Zenith Chambers, Jonathan Hulley,
Clark Willmott LLP Solicitors, Ben Taylor, WTB Solicitors LLP
|
|||
POLICY ISSUES IN HOUSING LAW
Help with Housing Costs
The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee are conducting an inquiry
into discretionary local housing, welfare and council tax assistance
schemes, including issues of: sufficiency; accessibility; allocation
criteria and appeals. They are also looking at how local policies are
drawn-up and monitored. A major feature of the work is the Discretionary
Housing Payments system. For access to the mass of written evidence that
the Committee have so far received,
click here On 2 November 2015, a Junior DWP Minister told
the house of Commons that “We are making available £800 million for
discretionary housing payments over this Parliament, which is an increase
of 40%. …In addition, to recognise the additional costs within London, £60
per household is provided per week to the local authority.” For the
debate,
click here
Social Housing Rents
On
5 November 2015, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a new report –
Social rents policy: choices and
trade-offs. The paper reviews social housing rent levels in the
context of the rent reduction provisions in the Welfare Reform & Work
Bill. For a copy of the report,
click here
Homelessness Prevention
On
30 October 2015, in a Written Answer to a Parliamentary Question about the
future of the Homelessness Prevention Grant paid to local councils, a
junior DCLG Minister said that the Department had received only five
written representations directly from local authorities on the future of
the grant since April 2015. To read the answer,
click here
Social Landlords in England
On
2 November 2015, the social housing regulator for England wrote to all
social landlords to stress that the ONS reclassification (see last week’s
issue of HLW) does not affect
the legal status, ownership or management structures of registered
providers and that they remain independent bodies run by their boards.
Similarly, classification as public corporations does not change any of
the regulatory requirements that apply to registered providers. Boards
remain responsible for ensuring that registered providers are compliant
with the regulatory framework (all current standards still apply), and for
all of their liabilities. For the full series of letters,
click here For the Ministerial statement made on 2
November 2015, to the same effect,
click here In the
Housing Minister’s speech to
housing associations on 5 November 2015 he said: “This government is
committed to a package of deregulatory measures intended to restore your
classification outside of the public sector – so that your formal status
matches the facts on the ground.” For the full text,
click here For the NHF briefing on the effects of the
reclassification,
click here
Private Renting in England
On
6 November 2015, the UK Government published a technical discussion paper
setting out options for extending the scope of mandatory licensing of
Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in England. It also sets out its
proposals to streamline the HMO licensing process. For a copy,
click here For details on the consultation, see
Housing Law Consultations (below). Launching the paper, the Housing
Minister said: “The government is determined to crack down on rogue
landlords and these measures, alongside those in the Housing Bill, will
further strengthen councils’ powers to tackle poor-quality privately
rented homes in their area.” For the full announcement,
click here
Social Landlords & the Gypsy/Traveller Community
On
4 November 2015, the Scottish Housing Regulator published a major report
on social landlord services for the Gypsy/Traveller community. The key
finding is that social landlords need to give an equal standard of service
to members of that community and housing tenants.
For the report,
click here
Gas Safety
Carbon monoxide: Keeping you and your family safe is a new free guide published by
Corgi Homeplan. For a copy,
click here
Service Charges
On
2 November 2015, the House of Commons Library published a new briefing on Leaseholders in social housing:
paying for major works (England). For a copy,
click here
Rough Sleeping
Liverpool City Council is consulting on a proposal to make a Public Spaces
Protection Order covering all public places within Liverpool City Centre.
The order would ban begging and the placing or erecting in public places
of unauthorised structures such as tents and temporary shelters.
On
4 November 2015, there was a Westminster Hall debate considering modern
prefabricated housing. To read the debate,
click here
Housing market
On
3 November 2015, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee launched a
new inquiry into the economics of the UK housing market. The Committee
will investigate the supply and affordability of housing across the
housing market and reviews the effectiveness of the Government's policies
to provide low cost housing to rent and to buy. For more details,
click here
Help and Care at Home
A
new NHS England guide – Better use
of care at home – provides case studies, ideas and practical tips for
health professionals and care providers on how to improve the
relationships, processes and use of homecare and housing support to help
people home from hospital. For a copy,
click here
Private Renting in Wales
On
3 November 2015, the Welsh Assembly approved the new Code of Practice for
Landlords and Agents licensed under Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act
2014, For the debate,
click here The Code comes into force on 23 November 2015.
For a copy,
click here
Housing Appeals in Wales
On
4 November 2015, Residential Property Tribunal Procedures and Fees (Wales)
(Amendment) Regulations 2015 were laid before the Assembly. They make
provision for the new appeals which may be made to a residential property
tribunal under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Consumer Rights Act
2015. These are appeals – under the 2014 Act – against a decision to place
certain conditions on a landlord’s or agent’s licence, appeals against the
revocation of registration as a landlord, appeals against the amendment of
a licence, appeals against the revocation of a licence and appeals against
a decision not to grant a licence. Under the 2015 Act, the appeals are
those made by letting agents against financial penalties imposed on them
by a local weights and measures authority. For the regulations,
click here
Finding a Housing Lawyer/Adviser
The GOV.UK web service provides a dedicated portal to help members of the
public find a Housing solicitor or adviser. Results are sorted by
geographic location and then by proximity. Click “Housing” under the
“Category of Law”. To access the portal,
click here
Members of the public wanting to go direct to a
barrister can use the Advanced Search facility to get the “Housing”
category for barristers by
clicking here For an updated alphabetical list of
solicitors’ firms and advice agencies undertaking legal aid and Housing
work,
click here For a list of Housing Law Practitioner
Association members undertaking legal aid housing work,
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 the CIH briefing on the Bill (members
only),
click here For a media commentary on the Impact
Assessment,
click here For the Local Government Association’s briefing
on the Bill,
click here For
a summary from Citizens Advice,
click here The Bill will now be 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 For the
LAG Housing Law commentary on the Bill,
click here
For a commentary by Dr Stephen Battersby,
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
now begins its passage through the House of Lords. For a commentary of the
final Commons Stage,
click here Second reading is scheduled for
Tuesday 17 November 2015 in the
Lords. 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
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 a
copy of the Bill,
click here For
the Explanatory Notes on Clauses,
click here
For the official Impact Assessment,
click here
To follow the progress of the
Bill,
click here The Bill is now completing its Commons Public
Bill Committee Stage. For the schedule of evidence received, meeting dates
and debates for that Committee,
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,
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 the Committee considering the Bill has issued a
call for written evidence to be submitted by
19 November 2015. For the details,
click here For the
Briefing on the Bill produced by the Scottish Parliament Information
Centre,
click here
Renting Homes (Wales) Bill
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
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
This is a Private Members 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
|
|||
NEW HOUSING CASES
Purewal v Countrywide Residential Lettings Ltd & Others
5
November 2015
The
claimant owned a house which he had bought on a buy-to-let basis. When he
defaulted on the mortgage, the lenders appointed receivers to deal with
the property. The receivers informed the claimant that they had taken out
their own buildings insurance and that he should therefore cancel his own
policy, which he did. The house later suffered damage but the receivers
failed to make a timely claim on the insurance. The claimant was declared
bankrupt. Later, he carried
out repairs to the property at his own expense after which the property
was let to a new tenant. He brought a claim against the receivers to
recover his costs. He could not claim for lost rent because the benefit of
that claim belonged to his trustee-in-bankruptcy. He sought £16,000, the
cost of the works. The Court of Appeal held that the judge was right to
dismiss the claim on the basis that any duties owed by the receivers in
relation to the insurance claim were also owed exclusively to the
trustee-in-bankruptcy. For the judgment,
click here
Sinclair Gardens Investments (Kensington) Ltd v Clemo
3
November 2015
Under
his lease, Mr Clemo was due to pay insurance rent and an administration
charge. The landlord claimed the unpaid money in the county court. That
court transferred the claim to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT). It
confirmed liability and the amount due. The landlord applied to the county
court to enter judgment for the amounts due. That was compromised by a
consent order for the amount claimed, interest and the “costs of the
action”. Those costs were agreed at £811. The landlord then levied an
administration charge for its costs at the LVT. The Upper Tribunal held
that the consent order had concluded all the costs of “the action” which
was a single set of proceedings started in the court, transferred to the
LVT and referred back to the court. No further costs could be recovered by
way of the admin charge. For the judgment,
click here
Knowsley Council v Edward Durkin and Joan Bennett
30
October 2015
Joan
Bennett claimed housing and council tax benefit over a period of eight
years. The basis of her claim was that she rented a property from Edward
Durkin, who was her landlord. In fact, the couple had been living together
at the address as husband and wife. Following a council investigation,
they pleaded guilty to offences associated with false housing benefit and
council tax benefit claims. Mr Durkin also pleaded guilty to money
laundering offences because the false benefit was paid into a bank account
in his name. A financial investigation carried out after conviction also
found that, between them, the couple had sufficient assets to be able to
repay the money that had been falsely claimed. Liverpool Crown Court made
a confiscation order of £20,660.32 against Durkin and £4,850.32 against
Bennett. They were given three months to repay or face imprisonment in
default. For details of the prosecution,
click here
29
October 2015
The
council declared an additional licensing scheme for landlords in its
district. The defendant was a private landlord in the district. The
council brought a prosecution when he failed to obtain a licence. He was
acquitted on the basis that he has ‘reasonable excuse’ because the council
had failed to bring the scheme to his attention. The Divisional Court
allowed an appeal. The magistrates had wrongly characterised the council’s
duty as more extensive than it was. The duty to bring the scheme to the
attention of landlords was a targeted duty, rather than a duty to every
landlord in the relevant area. The magistrates had been wrong to find that
any failure to comply with the duty could give rise to a reasonable
excuse. The decision to acquit was set aside and the matter was remitted
for reconsideration. The judgment is noted on Westlaw and Lawtel. For a
commentary on it,
click here
Whitcher v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Anor
28
October 2015
The
claimant was a Romany Gypsy. He applied for planning permission for the
change of use of land he owned in the New Forest National Park to a single
pitch Gypsy site for one mobile home and one touring caravan. Permission
was refused. An inspector dismissed an appeal. The High Court dismissed a
further appeal. The inspector’s decision properly “reflected the impact on
the claimant's nomadic lifestyle and cultural norms as a Gypsy in both the
assessment of the impact on his Article 8 rights and also the
consideration of proportionality ... The Inspector's reasoning also
discharged the requirements of the public sector equality duty.” For the
judgment,
click here
Bacon v Mountview Estates Plc
28
October 2015
Mr Bacon
paid £150pw rent. His landlord proposed a new rent of £350pw. The
First-tier Tribunal fixed the market rent at £210pw. The Upper Tribunal
allowed an appeal. Mr Bacon had been a Rent Act tenant in his former home.
He had then moved to his current home, which was let to him by the same
landlord. It therefore remained a Rent Act tenancy: Housing Act 1988
section 34. The Tribunal had no jurisdiction to fix a market rent. For the
judgment,
click here
Southend on Sea Council v Syed Junid Ul Hassan Shah
21
October 2015
The
defendant was a private landlord. After a site visit at the end of July
2014, Prohibition Orders under the Housing Act 2004 were served on him due
to a number of deficiencies at his property, including inadequate fire
detection facilities and the use of an outbuilding as a ‘bed in a shed’.
At Basildon Magistrates’ Court, he was found guilty of failing to
comply with three Prohibition Orders and for a failure to license the
property as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). He was fined £750 for
each prohibition order offence and £1,000 for the HMO offence, with a £100
victim surcharge and costs of £2,469.64. For details of the prosecution,
click here For media comment
and photographs,
click here
Marija Stegić v Croatia
8
October 2015
This is
one of a group of applications made to the European Court of Human Rights
by tenants who have purported to exercise their ‘right to buy’. The Court
has asked the parties: (1) did the applicant’s claim to purchase the flat
in respect of which she held the specially protected tenancy have a
sufficient basis in national law to qualify as a “possession” and thus
attract the protection of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention?;
and (2) if so, did the domestic courts’ refusal to grant the applicant’s
claim to purchase the flat amount to an interference with her right to
peaceful enjoyment of her possessions? For the statement of facts,
click here
North Yorkshire County Council v MAG
13 July
2015
|
|||
|
|||
HOUSING LAW CONSULTATIONS
Renting Social Housing
Houses in Multiple
Occupation
|
|||
NEW HOUSING LAW ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS
Recent Developments in Housing Law
Jan Luba QC & Nic Madge [2015]
November 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
Discretionary payment scheme is no answer to bedroom tax discrimination
Richard Machin [2015] November Legal
Action p10. Available in print and on-line for Legal Action
subscribers. To read the article on-line,
click here
Gypsy and Traveller: update
Chris Johnson, Dr Angus Murdoch and Marc Willers
QC [2015] November Legal Action.
Available in print and on-line for Legal Action subscribers.
To read the article on-line,
click here
A balancing act between landowner and squatter
Kate Andrews [2015] Solicitors
Journal 3 November. To read the article,
click here
Undercover survey of letting agent fees in Brighton and Hove
Emily Yates [2015]
Brighton & Hove Independent 30 October. To read the article,
click here
How much is immigration to blame for the housing crisis in England?
Gerald Koessl [2015]
National Housing Federation Blog
27 October. To read the article,
click here
Housing Law Update – Part 1
Adrian Stalker [2015] September
SCOLAG 188. To read the article,
click here To read
Housing Law Update (Part 2)
Adrian Stalker [2015] September SCOLAG 214,
subscribe here
|
|||
THE HOUSING LAW DIARY 13 November 2015 13 November 2015 17 November 2015 19 November 2015 20 November 2015 23 November 2015 18 December 2015
|
|||
RECRUITMENT Housing Law Paralegal Vacancy Sternberg Reed is a well established
Lexcel Accredited law firm with offices in Essex and A vacancy has arisen for a Paralegal to
join our Housing Law Department to support and assist the fee earners in the
preparation and conduct of cases. The role will include undertaking
administrative tasks. This position will be based in our Barking
office but the successful candidate may be expected to work from any of our
other offices as and when required The job would offer excellent experience
of working in a busy legal practice to a Paralegal or Law Graduate who has
passed the LPC and has a keen interest in making a career in this area of
law. The successful candidate will have the
following attributes:
Please apply to:
julie.young@sternberg-reed.co.uk with your CV and a covering letter
stating why you are interested in this role and how your experience and
skills match the requirements for this role. We are an Equal Opportunities Employer
Legal Aid Billing Opportunities
with TV Edwards LLP
TV Edwards has one of the largest legal aid billing
departments nationally. Respected as a centre of excellence in billing, we
invest heavily in our billing processes providing extensive training and
mentoring. We are Lexcel accredited with a passion to deliver unrivaled
quality of service to our business.
Providing consultancy across the legal aid community
our team members are encouraged to develop skills in training and
consultancy.
We are expanding our billing team, looking for
ambitious, bright and enthusiastic applicants. Previous experience in legal
aid billing is not essential. Knowledge of legal aid work within private
practice accounts/case work or administration is an advantage. We welcome
applicants from all backgrounds.
Salary
depending on experience.
Please complete the
application form and equality
monitoring questionnaire available at
http://www.tvedwards.com/site/careers/opportunities/
and
forward to
christine.woolfenden@tvedwards.com
Closing date:
13th November 2015
We are
an equal opportunities employer
Housing
Solicitors/Caseworkers
Edwards Duthie is a large, well respected firm with a number of offices in
East London and
Our Community Law Team has expertise in all areas of social welfare law,
including housing & debt, welfare benefits, community care and mental
health. The team has a
particularly strong reputation for housing law The team holds Housing
Possession Court Duty Scheme contracts with the Legal Aid Agency at Bow,
Edmonton and Romford County Courts.
We now wish to recruit experienced
housing caseworkers or solicitors to join our Community Law Team.
Successful applicants will have a sound knowledge of housing law and
litigation and ideally will have experience of acting as a duty advisor
under the LAA’s Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes.
We have dedicated Human Resources, IT and Facilities Teams to develop and
support all of our legal teams.
Salary according to experience.
Vacancy for Housing Options Officer with Three Rivers District Council
Three
Rivers District Council is looking to recruit an enthusiastic professional
to join the Housing Needs team providing housing advice to customers,
preventing homelessness and as required making decisions under the
homelessness legislation for customers approaching our Housing Needs
service.
ARE YOU RECRUITING?
If so,
make sure your recruitment opportunities come to the attention of
outstanding candidates – FREE
Take
advantage of the Housing Law Week free Recruitment service. |
|||
Lime
Legal's Housing Law Week
All rights reserved |