This appeal concerns the question of whether article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“article 8”) requires UK courts to consider the proportionality of evicting an occupier from his home in claims for possession by local authorities and, if so, whether the demoted tenancy regime in the Housing Acts 1985 and 1996 (the “1985 Act” and “1996 Act” respectively) can properly be interpreted so as to comply with the requirements of article 8.Mr Pinnock’s main contention is that the possess ...
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This case concerned the right-to-buy under Part V of the Housing Act 1985. The respondent, Mr Hanoman, was the tenant of a flat in London. His landlord was the appellant Council. It is not in dispute that Mr Hanoman was entitled under s.118 of the 1985 Act to the statutory right-to-buy in respect of his flat. A right-to-buy is triggered by the service on the landlord of a notice that the tenant is claiming the right-to-buy (s.122). Mr Hanoman served a s.122 notice in Oct ...
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The issue in this case is, if a child of 16 or 17 who has been thrown out of the family home presents himself to a local children’s services authority and asks to be accommodated by them under s.20 of the Children Act 1989, is it open to that authority instead to arrange for him to be accommodated by the local housing authority under the homelessness provisions of Part VII of the Housing Act 1996? The House unanimously allowed the appeal. The result was that A was accommodated unde ...
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This is an appeal brought against a decision of the Court of Appeal which upheld the first instance decision in the Administrative Court. By that decision, the Deputy Judge declared that the policy adopted by the London Borough of Newham pursuant to s.167 of the Housing Act 1996 for determining priorities in allocating their social housing accommodation was unlawful. Newham’s current allocation scheme (“the Scheme”) involves two different methods of offering properties - ...
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These five appeals arise out of legislation enabling residential tenants to acquire new leases or to buy their freeholds. The specific issue raised on each appeal is whether the price payable for the new lease or the freehold, as the case may be, should include what is called “hope value". The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 provides in s.9 that the price payable for the house should be the amount which it would be expected to realise if sold on the open market. Among these potential purc ...
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These 3 appeals raise questions about the effect of suspended possession orders on the status and rights of secure tenants under the Housing Act 1985 and assured tenants under the Housing Act 1988. Knowsley Mrs White was granted a weekly tenancy of a house in Liverpool by Knowsley Borough Council. This was a secure tenancy within the 1985 Act. Knowsley Housing Trust acquired the whole of the Council’s housing stock, whereupon Mrs W became an assured tenant under the 1988 Act. ...
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The essence of the problem to be resolved in this case is - A (in this case the appellant, Yeoman’s Row, with Mrs Lisle-Mainwaring as a director and shareholder) is the owner of land with potential for residential development and enters into negotiations with B (in this case the respondent, Mr Cobbe) for the sale of the land to B. They reach an oral “agreement in principle” on the core terms of the sale but no written contract, or even a draft contract for discussion, is produc ...
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Mr Heffernan, who is 51 years old, blind and registered with various physical and medical complaints, does not work and is dependent on welfare benefits. In March 2004, he was granted an assured (private sector) tenancy of an apartment in Sheffield at a rent of £745 per month. In April 2004, he applied to Sheffield City Council for housing benefit in respect of the whole of the rent, and the Council referred the question of his maximum allowable housing benefit to the Rent Service. After fo ...
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Chapter II of Part I of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 confers a right on “a qualifying tenant of a flat” to acquire a new long lease of the flat from his landlord. The question raised on these two appeals was whether the lessee of premises (such as a block of flats), which included property other than flats, could be a qualifying tenant of any of the flats comprised in those premises. This issue turned upon the proper construction of the 1993 Act, as a ...
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