Lime Legal's
Housing Law Week

General Editor: Jan Luba QC

22nd April 2015 Update

HOUSING LAW NEWS

Policy Issues in Housing Law

Anti-social behaviour and housing: the new injunctions (1)
The problem about jurisdiction to hear applications under the new injunction provisions in Part 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour etc Act 2014 was resolved on Monday 6 April 2015. On that date, the list of the types of injunction application which district judges have jurisdiction to hear was updated to include Part 1 applications (CPR Practice Direction 2B para 8.1(vi)). Indeed, the whole of PD 2B was substituted with new wording set out in Schedule 1 to the 79th set of amendments to the CPR Practice Directions. For those amendments, click here.

Anti-social behaviour and housing: the new injunctions (2)
The Housing Law Practitioners Association has produced a members' briefing note on the revised legal aid arrangements for defending the new Part 1 injunctions and for representation on applications for committal for breach. This will shortly be published on the HLPA website for which, click here

Possession claims: new pre-action protocols
The pre-action protocols setting out the steps that social landlords and mortgage lenders should take before bringing possession proceedings were amended and re-issued with effect from Monday 6 April 2015. For the new Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims by Social Landlords and the new Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims Based on Mortgage or Home Purchase Plan Arrears in Respect of Residential Property click here For a commentary, click here

Judicial review in housing cases
On Monday 6 April 2015, the Civil Procedure Rules governing judicial review cases (CPR 54) were amended to take account of new statutory provisions about obtaining worthwhile remedies and rules on costs against interveners. For the amending regulations, click here For the explanatory memorandum, click here

Housing disrepair
The pre-action protocols setting out the steps which tenants and their landlords should take before becoming involved in disrepair proceedings were amended and re-issued with effect from Monday 6 April 2015. For the new Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Disrepair Cases, click here
 
Social housing allocation
On Monday 20 April 2015, the Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Right to Move) (England) Regulations 2015 came into effect. They ensure that where a local housing authority uses a local connection requirement as a qualifying condition for allocation of social housing, it must not apply that criterion to social tenants in England who: (1) have reasonable preference because of a need to move to the local authority's district to avoid hardship; and (2) need to move because the tenant works or has been offered work in the district of the authority and has a genuine intention to take up the offer. For a copy of the regulations, click here For the explanatory memorandum, click here A new statutory code of guidance has been issued to local housing authorities in England dealing with the new provisions. For a copy, click here

Letting fees
On 9 April 2015, the Committee of Advertising Practice issued new guidance on the advertising of the VAT element in charges levied by letting and managing agents - VAT Advertising Advice for Residential Property Professionals. For a copy, click here

Housing disputes
On Monday 20 April 2015, the Property Ombudsman published his Annual Report for 2014. It shows that significant numbers of complaints about letting agents continue to be received from both tenants and landlords. For a copy of the report click here

Regulating private landlords
The House of Commons Library has issued a new free briefing note on the regulation of private sector letting and managing agents in England. For a copy click here

Regulating social landlords
The revised arrangements for regulating social landlords in England are now in force. From 1 April 2015 the new regulatory framework is made up of: (1) regulatory requirements - which registered social housing providers need to comply with; (2) codes of practice - which can amplify any economic standard to assist registered providers in understanding how compliance might be achieved; and (3) regulatory guidance - providing further explanatory information on the regulatory requirements and indicating how the regulator will carry out its role of enforcing the requirements. For further details, click here For the formal decision implementing the new framework, click here

Homelessness
The organisation Homeless Link has produced a regional analysis of the latest official statistics on homelessness in England. For a copy, click here

Safe housing
The House of Commons Library has issued a new free briefing note on the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). For a copy, click here

Right to Buy
New research has been published exploring the potential for replacing homes sold under right to buy. It makes recommendations to government aimed at ensuring that homes sold can be replaced on a one-for-one basis at a local level. It focuses specifically on council-owned homes sold during the year 2013/14 and is based on a combination of publicly available government statistics and a survey of local authorities. For a copy, click here

Housing Benefit
The April 2015 issue of the HB Direct newsletter provides the DWP's latest information on policy changes, good practice and initiatives that affect Housing Benefit. For a copy, click here.

Housing Laws in the Pipeline  

Renting Homes (Wales) Bill
This is a Welsh Government bill introduced in the Welsh Assembly. For a copy of the Bill, click here For the Explanatory Memorandum, click here To monitor the progress of the Bill, click here The Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee was scheduled to begin its deliberations on the Bill on Wednesday 22 April 2015.

 

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NEW HOUSING LAW CASES

Evesham and Pershore Housing Association Ltd v Werrett
20 April 2015
The association sought possession against the defendant tenant as a result of his anti-social behaviour. A possession order was made subject to conditions. A judge was satisfied that the conditions had been breached. A warrant was issued and the tenant sought to suspend it. An issue then arose as to whether the tenant had the mental capacity to conduct the proceedings. A judge decided he did. The Official Solicitor provided a further medical report about capacity but the judge refused to disturb his earlier decision. The High Court dismissed an appeal. The judge had made no error of jurisdiction or approach. For the judgment, click here

R (AM) v Havering LBC and Tower Hamlets LBC
17 April 2015
Tower Hamlets decided that the claimant had become homeless intentionally and gave him notice to leave his temporary accommodation. It notified its children's services department as required by Housing Act 1996 section 213A. That department began an assessment of the children's needs but discontinued it on appreciating that the temporary accommodation was in Havering. Havering at first contended that responsibility remained with Tower Hamlets and then that the children did not appear to be in need. The High Court decided that both councils had acted unlawfully. The needs of the children should have been assessed by Havering and accommodation for the family should have been continued by Tower Hamlets until the assessment had been concluded. For the judgment, click here For a fuller commentary, click here

Branwell v Valuation Office Agency
16 April 2015
The claimant owned a flat. She claimed that it had been badly affected by flooding, required extensive repairs and was uninhabitable. She no longer lived in it. She asked for it to be removed from the council tax register. The local valuation office refused the application and the claimant appealed to a valuation tribunal. It rejected the appeal, and an application for a review of its decision, as it was satisfied that the flat was suitable for occupation if a reasonable amount of repair was undertaken. The High Court dismissed an appeal. There had been no procedural unfairness, the tribunal had been entitled to reach its conclusion on the evidence and there had been no breach of the claimant's human rights. For the judgment, click here

Lincoln City Council v Bird
10 April 2015
The council appealed against the dismissal of its application for possession of one of its tenanted properties. The council had sought possession on the basis of Mr Bird's breaches of the tenancy agreement and his anti-social behaviour. It said that the judge was wrong in failing to order possession, notwithstanding that he found that Mr Bird had engaged in anti-social behaviour. The High Court allowed the appeal and substituted a conditional possession order. The neutral citation is [2015] EWHC 843 (QB) and the judgment is available on LAWTEL and WESTLAW.

R (Giwa) v Lewisham LBC
10 April 2015
The claimant, her husband and their three children were all in the UK unlawfully. When they became homeless, they were not eligible for social housing or homelessness assistance. The council decided that it did not need to provide for their housing needs under the Children Act 1989. It was not satisfied that the household was without resources and took into account that their prospects of getting leave to remain in the UK were hopeless. The High Court dismissed an application for an interim injunction in judicial review proceedings. There is no transcript of the judgment yet but the case is noted on LAWTEL and WESTLAW.

Nzolameso v City of Westminster
2 April 2015
The Supreme Court has handed-down its reserved reasons for allowing an appeal against a decision to provide temporary accommodation for a Westminster homeless family in Bletchley near Milton Keynes. For the full reasons, click here For a summary, click here For fuller commentary, click here  

HCA Regulatory Judgement on Circle Anglia Limited
2 April 2015
The Homes & Communities Agency, the regulator of social housing in England, issued this regulatory judgement following an assessment that the repairs service this social landlord was providing to tenants in the London area covering 13,000 homes (Circle 33 and Old Ford Housing Association) represented a chronic failure to ensure delivery of a satisfactory repair service. For example, in relation to Circle 33's 8,000 homes, over a period of three months Circle reported that less than 20% of urgent and emergency repairs were completed on time and elsewhere less than 50%. Referrals received by the regulator, including information about a significant number of outstanding statutory notices relating to disrepair, provided evidence that for over a year tenants, including vulnerable tenants, had experienced significant difficulties in getting essential repairs done, either on time or at all. For a copy of the judgement, click here

Darby (Administratrix) v Richmond Upon Thames LBC [aka Re Rabbetts (Deceased)]
1 April 2015
Mr Rabbetts applied for social housing. His GP wrote that his health was at risk while he was sharing accommodation with others. A consultant haematologist explained that it would be disastrous if he was to pick up an infection from them. A health visitor wrote repeating the request for re-housing. The council awarded 50 medical priority points. Its scheme allowed 200 points where there was a life-threatening condition. Those with whom he lived developed infections. They were passed on to Mr Rabbetts who died from influenza. The High Court struck-out a claim for negligent handling of the social housing application because the council did not owe a duty of care. The judgment has the neutral citation [2015] EWHC 909 (QB) and is available on LAWTEL and WESTLAW. For a fuller commentary, click here

Swift 1st Ltd v The Chief Land Registrar
1 April 2015
Mrs Rani owned a house and was on the land register as owner. In April 2006, a fraudster registered a charge against the title for a £32,000 loan in favour of GE Money. In May 2006, that loan was redeemed by Swift as part of another loan of £64,500. The charge in favour of Swift replaced that for GE Money. Both charges had been forgeries. Mrs Rani had not been involved and had received none of the money. Swift accepted that its charge had to be deleted from the register and that it had no enforceable security against the property. The Court of Appeal upheld an award of over £90,000 by way of indemnity against the Land Registrar. For the judgment, click here

West Midlands Fire Authority v Gurmeet Singh
1 April 2015
Fire broke out in a house let by the defendant landlord. There were no fire alarms or fire doors but there were 16 people living in nine rooms. The defendant pleaded guilty to eight charges of breaching fire safety regulations and a further offence of obstructing a fire inspector following the incident. At Leamington Crown Court he was sentenced to nine months' immediate imprisonment and ordered to pay £7,436 costs. For details of the prosecution, click here

R (Hardy) v Sandwell MBC (Zacchaeus 2000 Trust intervening)
30 March 2015
Mr Hardy and Mrs Hardy were council tenants. Both were in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA). They were deemed to be under-occupying and their housing benefit was reduced. They applied for discretionary hardship payments (DHPs) to make up the shortfall. The council took their DLA care component into account in calculating their income. The High Court held that to be unlawful and discriminatory contrary to Article 14 of Human Rights Act 1998 Schedule 1. For the judgment, click here For the Z2K commentary, click here For the solicitors' commentary, click here

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service v Stuart De’Ath
25 March 2015
The defendant was a private landlord of three houses. Five fire safety offences were identified in relation to each of them, namely: no fire risk assessment; inadequate fire separation throughout all premises; inadequate means of giving warning in case of fire; inadequate provision of emergency lighting; and inadequate fire evacuation procedures. Other breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 included combustible materials on the means of escape and incorrect fastenings on a final exit door. At Blackpool Magistrates' Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to 18 offences. He was fined a total of £72,000, with costs of £8,700 and a victim surcharge of £120. For details of the prosecution, click here

Hammersmith & Fulham LBC v Alan Lempriere
24 March 2015
The defendant was a private landlord. To inspect his property, council officers had had to enforce a warrant. They found that he was operating a house in multiple occupation without a licence; not carrying out gas or electrical safety checks; not complying with the council's requests for information about the property; not providing adequate smoke alarms or protected means of escaping from a fire; and not maintaining common areas affected by damp and mould. He was sentenced at Hammersmith Magistrates' Court to a fine of £20,000 with costs of £4,796 and a £120 victim surcharge. For details of the prosecution, click here


 
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HOUSING LAW CONSULTATIONS  

Leaseholder redress
On 26 March 2015, the UK Government launched a consultation exercise on including information about the right for residential leaseholders to seek redress against their property manager (from the government approved redress scheme to which their manager belongs), as part of the existing prescribed Summaries of Rights and Obligations sent to leaseholders with demands for service charges and administration charges. For the consultation paper, click here  Responses should be made by 22 May 2015..

Recognising Tenants' Associations
On 23 March 2015, the UK Government launched a consultation exercise to consider what more can be done through guidelines to assist the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal when considering an application for recognition of a tenants’ association.  For the consultation paper, click here   Responses should be made by 22 May 2015.
 
Stock increases and LSVT landlords
On 13 March 2015, the UK Government launched a consultation seeking proposals and ideas on how it can help stock transfer housing associations borrow more to build additional homes. For the consultation paper, click here Responses should be made by 31 May 2015

A new Ombudsman?
On 25 March 2015, the UK Government launched a consultation exercise about proposals to absorb the roles of the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government Ombudsman into the jurisdiction of a new Public Service Ombudsman for England. For the consultation paper, click here. For the Gordon report, on which the proposals are based, click here  Responses should be made by 16 June 2015.


NEW HOUSING LAW ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS

Recent Developments in Housing Law Jan Luba QC & Nic Madge [2015] April issue Legal Action magazine. Available in print and on-line for Legal Action subscribers. To read the article, click here

The limits of localism (commentary on R (Jakimaviciute) v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC) Emma Laurie [2015] Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 152-159.

Renters, first-time buyers and owners – how will the election affect you? Liam Kelly [2015] Guardian Housing Network 17 April. To read the article, click here

Councils pay private landlords up to £4,000 to house tenants Hilary Osborne [2015] Guardian 17 April. To read the article, click here

Can the council move you out of London? Sara Stephens [2015] Anthony Gold Blog 17 April. To read the article, click here

Reforming private renting and getting it right Dan Wilson Craw [2015] The Generation Rent Blog 17 April. To read the article, click here

Today, housing lost a good friend – Pat Reddin: 1947-2015 Andrew Arden [2015] LAG Housing Law Blog 13 April. To read the article, click here

We need a new deal to restore the rights of social housing tenants Hannah Fearn [2015] Guardian Housing Network 10 April. To read the article, click here

Oxford City Council refutes claims by homelessness campaign that it will 'criminalise' rough sleeping Jamie Campbell [2015] The Independent 9 April. To read the article, click here

Are your tenants living in fear of their own teenagers? Gudrun Burnet [2015] Guardian Housing Network 8 April. To read the article, click here

Eight top tips for dealing with universal credit [2015] CIH News Article 7 April. To read the article, click here

Tenant wins battle to stop Westminster council moving her out of London Owen Bowcott [2015] Guardian 2 April. To read the article, click here

We are witnessing the slow death of social housing Tom Murtha [2015] Guardian Housing Network 1 April. To read the article, click here

THE HOUSING LAW DIARY

22 May 2015
Closing date for consultations on Leaseholder redress and on Recognising Tenant’s Associations (see above)

31 May 2015
Closing date for consultation on Enhancing stock for LSVT social landlords (see above)

19 June 2015
Homelessness Conference 2015: Law & Best Practice (Lime Legal) in London – for further details click here

25 June 2015
Social Housing Law & Practice Conference 2015 (Lime Legal) in London – for further details click here

 

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