Lime
Legal's
Housing Law Week
General Editor: Jan Luba QC
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22
October 2014 Update
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HOUSING LAW NEWS
New
Housing Laws
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (Commencement No.
7, Saving and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2014
This
Order, made on 14 October 2014, corrects the commencement order that
brought most of the anti-social behaviour provisions of the Anti-Social
Behaviour etc 2014 into force (except for the new injunctions) on Monday
20 October 2014. For a copy of the new amending Order, click
here.
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Housing
Laws in the Pipeline
Consumer
Rights Bill.
This
is a government bill that relates to housing by: (1) repealing and
replacing laws dealing with unfair terms in tenancy agreements and other
contracts; and (2) requiring letting agents to publish their fees. The
next stage of the bill is the Lords Committee Stage starting on 13 October
2014. For details about the bill and its progress, click
here.
Deregulation
Bill.
This is a government bill that relates to housing by: (1) reducing the qualifying
period for right to buy; (2) removing the power to require preparation of
housing strategies; and (3) amending the law on tenancy deposits. The next
stage of the bill is the Lords Committee Stage starting on 21 October
2014. For details about the bill and its progress, click
here.
Tenancies
(Reform) Bill 2014-15.
This is a Private Members Bill introduced by Sarah
Teather MP. Its purpose is to protect tenants against retaliatory eviction
and to amend the law on notices requiring possession relating to assured
shorthold tenancies. For details about the bill and its progress, click
here.
Carers Bedroom Entitlement (Social Housing Sector) Bill
This is a Private
Members Bill to be introduced by Barbara Keeley MP. Its purpose is to
provide that people living in the social housing sector, who are in
receipt of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, be entitled to that
benefit based on needing an additional bedroom related to caring
responsibilities or overnight care. For the debate and vote on 14 October
2014 on the motion to introduce it, click
here.
Policy
Issues in Housing Law
Homelessness
(1)
A new report from CRISIS, on the treatment of single homeless people by
local authority homelessness services in England, was published on 16
October 2014. It reveals that large numbers are wrongly turned away. For a
copy of the report, click
here.
Homelessness (2)
Homelessness among care leavers is explored in a new
report from Action for Children which indicates that something is going
very wrong for the most vulnerable young people leaving care. For a copy
of the report, click
here
Homelessness (3)
The Welsh Government has published explanatory notes to the Housing
(Wales) Act 2014. They set out how the new homelessness provisions (and
other parts of the Act) are intended to work. For a copy, click
here.
Private Renting (1)
The House of Commons Library has issued a new free
briefing paper on the latest arrangements and proposals for regulating
letting agents and managing agents in England. For a copy, click
here.
Private Renting (2)
On 13 October 2014 the All Party Parliamentary Group
for the Private Rented Sector published a new report addressing access to
private rented housing for the under 35s. For a copy, click
here.
Housing Benefit
The scale of Housing Benefit fraud - and both
customer and official error - is set out in a new report from National
Audit Office. For a copy, click
here.
Right to buy
In a statement to the House of Commons on 13 October 2014, the
Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) reported that his department had begun writing to almost one
million social tenants to remind them of their Right to Buy. This mail-out
will be supported through advertisements in local newspapers. He said
“There might never be a better time for eligible council and housing
association tenants to make this life-changing decision for them and their
families.” For the full announcement, click
here.
For
an article suggesting that the right to buy helps a few at the expense of
the housing security of many, click
here.
New social housing
The latest official figures published on 16 October
2014 show that the number of new homes delivered in the social rented
sector (social and affordable rented) in England increased by 24 per cent
from only 24,600 in 2012-13 to only 30,590 in 2013-14.For the full
figures, click
here. On the same day, the official figures covering sales in England of
existing social housing were published. They show that in 2013-14 there
were 26,376 sales of social housing dwellings, an increase of 60% compared
to 2012 to 2013. 11,740 of
those sales were by local authorities (an increase of 70% on the 2012 to
2013 figure) and 14,636 were by private registered providers (an increase
of 50% compared to 2012 to 2013). For the full statistics, click
here.
Social housing rent arrears
On 17 October 2014 a consortium of housing
organisations published its Welfare
Reform Survey – 2013/14 end of year update. The survey found that at
the end of 2013/14 the landlords surveyed had issued a notice of seeking
possession to 21% of all households still affected by the
‘under-occupation penalty’. For a copy of the report, click
here.
New housing
The Housing Commission
chaired by Sir Michael Lyons has published a programme for housing
provision designed to tackle “the biggest housing crisis in a
generation”. For a copy of the report, click
here. For a National Housing Federation briefing on the
report, click
here.
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Booking now
Housing Management Conference 2014
London, Friday 5 December 2014
“Simply the best conference around”
(Housing Manager past delegate)
Click here for details
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NEW
HOUSING LAW CASES
Southwell v Blackburn
16 October 2014
A couple decided to set up home together. They
chose a house that the male partner then bought in his own name with his
own money. He met the mortgage repayments. The female partner gave up her
housing association tenancy to move in with him. The household expenses
were shared. They lived as if they were husband and wife.
Ten years later, the relationship broke down and the couple
separated. A judge held that the woman’s claim to be a beneficiary of a constructive trust failed but upheld her alternative claim to an enforceable equity by operation of proprietary estoppel. The judge valued that equity at £28,500.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the male partner’s appeal. The judge’s
conclusions were supported by the facts found. For the judgment, click
here.
AA v Southwark LBC
14
October 2014
The claimant had been a secure tenant of the
council for 23 years. He defaulted on a suspended possession order
obtained for rent arrears and was evicted. His possessions were
immediately destroyed. After a trial of his claim for reinstatement and
compensation, the judge found that various council officers had conspired
to evict the claimant by unlawful means, to seize and destroy his
possessions by unlawful means and to cause him harm and loss. This
conspiracy was subsequently covered up by a further conspiracy which gave
rise to abuse of process by the council in the subsequent court
proceedings and to a continuing deprivation of the claimant's enjoyment of
his tenancy and loss of his possessions. The parties agreed damages in an undisclosed sum. For the judgment, click here.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service v Haresh Patel
13
October 2014
The
defendant was a private landlord with a substantial portfolio of 17
properties. Following a fire, which placed the occupants of some of his
flats at a serious risk of injury or death, he pleaded guilty to seven
charges of breaching fire safety legislation. At Leicester Crown Court he
was sentenced to eight months imprisonment and ordered to pay costs of £13,700. For full details of the prosecution, click
here.
Health & Safety Executive v Mehboob Bobat and Suraiya Bobat
10
October 2014
The
defendants were private landlords. An HSE investigation found four gas
appliances in their rented property were unsafe and that they had failed
to arrange an annual gas safety check. At Trafford Magistrates’ Court
they were each sentenced to 80 hours of community service with unpaid work
and each ordered to pay costs of £720 after pleading guilty to two
breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
They were also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60. For
details of the prosecution, click
here.
Hammersmith & Fulham LBC v Royston Cooper
7
October 2014
The
defendant was a private landlord who let a house to students. On a
prosecution brought by the council, he did not appear at Hammersmith
Magistrates’ Court and was found guilty of four offences under the
Housing Act 2004. He was fined £15,000 for failing to license the house
as an HMO, £5,000 for failing to maintain the boiler, £5,000 for not
fixing a leaking soil pipe in the toilet, and
£3,000 for failing to respond to the council’s request for
information. He was ordered to pay costs of £2,160 and a victim surcharge
of £120. For full details of the prosecution, click
here.
Lambeth Council v Lexadon Ltd
8
September 2014
The
defendant was a private landlord. Without planning permission, it
converted a house into four flats and let them out. An enforcement notice
under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 was served but the defendant
failed to comply. At Inner
London Crown Court the company was ordered to pay £143,134 (being the
amount that it made from renting out the property as flats), a £13,000
fine and £6,812 costs. The
company owner, Jerrard Knight, was also fined £13,000. For details of the
prosecution, click
here.
Lambeth Council v Ahmad Nejad
8
September 2014
The
defendant held a council tenancy of a property in Lambeth. When he became
the tenant he already owned an undisclosed property elsewhere.
He rented out the council home and purchased several other
properties. The defendant was convicted of three charges under the Fraud
Act 2006 in relation to the subletting. He was fined £1,500 with costs of
£1,999. Possession of the property was recovered. For further details,
see para 2.2.4 of a report available by clicking
here.
Lambeth Council v Iqbal Ali Khan
5
September 2014
The
defendant converted a house into flats without planning permission. He was
convicted of breach of a planning enforcement notice and appealed. His
appeal was turned down at the Old Bailey and he was ordered to pay costs
of more than £17,000. An application for a confiscation order has been
made in respect of his profits. For details of the prosecution, click
here.
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HOUSING
LAW CONSULTATIONS
Right to Move
The DCLG is consulting about new provisions for lettings in social
housing. For example, do we need a new "reasonable preference"
category in England for those moving to take up work? Closing date:
22 October 2014. For a
copy of the consultation paper, click here.
Local welfare provision in 2015 to 2016
Parts of the discretionary Social Fund were
abolished by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and new local welfare provision
by local authorities replaced Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans. On
10 October 2014 DCLG and the DWP opened a consultation seeking views on
how local welfare provision should be funded in 2015 to 2016. Closing
date: 21
November 2014. For a copy of the consultation paper, click
here.
Travellers
The
DCLG is consulting on new planning restrictions which will affect gypsies
and travellers without authorised sites. In addition to the formal
consultation paper, there is an easy read version and an equality
assessment. Closing date: 23
November 2014. For a copy of the consultation paper, click here.
Consultation on a New Tenancy for the Private Sector.
The Scottish Government is consulting on new arrangements for security of
tenure and/or rent control in the private rented sector. Closing date: 28
December 2014. For a copy of the consultation paper, click here.
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NEW
HOUSING LAW
ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS
How
to rethink hoarding disorder
Jamie Hickling [2014] 17 October. The
Guardian Housing Network. To read the article, click
here.
May 2015 - the Home Stretch (the proposals for housing from the three main
political parties) Andrew
Arden QC and Clare Cullen
[2014] 10 October. LAG
Housing Law Blog. To read the article, click
here.
The new Anti-social Behaviour Act 2014 – what
it means for landlords and tenants: Part 2 [2014] 18 Landlord
& Tenant Review 165
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THE
OCTOBER HOUSING LAW DIARY
20 October
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New tools and powers under Anti-social
Behaviour Act 2014 due to come into force in England
(see New Housing
Laws above)
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21 October
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Supreme Court to hear a case about damages for
unlawful eviction by a local authority. Click
here
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22 October
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End
of ‘right to move’ consultation (see Consultations
above)
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22 October
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Supreme Court hands down
judgment in Scott v Southern
Pacific Mortgages Limited concerning sale and lease-back
arrangements with homeowners. For more details, click
here.
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