The High Court has found a local authority's housing policy to be discriminatory against women and girls escaping violence. Stephanie Harrison KC and Nadia O’Mara. Read more
Reading Borough Council has joined nine urban councils in questioning Government proposals on brownfield reform after raising concerns that the changes could override local planning policies.
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has issued a remediation order requiring a freeholder to resolve building safety issues with a 16-storey tower block in Stevenage.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found that the London Borough of Tower Hamlets did not do enough to help a family who were about to be evicted by their landlord.
Piers Riley-Smith analyses a Court of Appeal case concerning whether there was a legal power to vary an Abatement Notice issued under s.80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The First Tier Tribunal recently considered the use of Improvement Notices under s.12 of Housing Act 2004 to address concerns regarding the fire safety of residential property containing cladding similar to that present on Grenfell Tower. Archie Maddan analyses its ruling.
North Yorkshire Council has self-referred to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) after a review undertaken after the unitary’s establishment found that work needs to be done to meet all elements of the Social Housing (Regulations) Act 2023.
The Government has tabled amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill tightening the definition of ‘nuisance rough sleeping’ after MPs expressed concerns about the breadth of the legislation’s provisions.
Whistleblowing allegations relating to contracts signed by Guildford Borough Council were not taken to members, according to an independent review conducted by SOLACE.
The Housing Ombudsman has appointed its new Resident Panel, comprising 1,500 residents from across the country to share their views on complaints within social housing and how all of the sector, including the Ombudsman itself, can make improvements.
The Supreme Court has allowed a Welsh council's appeal in a dispute over the diminution in value of land arising from the encroachment of Japanese knotweed.
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has repeated its call for the Government to invest further “to build the social homes the country needs”, warning that the sector is under “serious financial pressure, although it remains resilient for the time being”.
The new fee regime of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), which will see social landlords pay for the full cost of their regulation, is to come into effect on 1 July 2024.
The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, have written to local authorities setting out a three-step approach to reducing the number of care leavers found intentionally homeless.
New regulations on consumer protections for homes served by heat networks will provide fairer pricing, clearer billing, and boost compensation where customers lose access to heating, a Government consultation response has promised.
Affordable housing provider The Riverside Group (TRGL), which manages more than 75,000 homes across 175 local authorities in England and Scoltand, is to procure a replacement legal services framework worth up to £11m.
The Renters Reform bill has passed its third reading in the House of Commons, despite it including an indefinite delay to the end of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed a father’s appeal regarding the suitability of accommodation offered by the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which was distant from his child’s private faith school.
Manchester City Council should have made greater efforts to ensure that an improvement notice and subsequent penalty demand reached a landlord, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has said, upholding an appeal against a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
Manchester City Council should have made greater efforts to ensure that an improvement notice and subsequent penalty demand reached a landlord, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has said, upholding an appeal against a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions have led to households being forced to approach their local authority for homelessness support after receiving a notice more than 80,000 times since the Government announced it would ban the practice, research by Homeless Link has suggested.
Fifty victims of a fire in south-west London in 2019 have this month issued a High Court claim against Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH) housing association and house builder St James.
A rabbi who mostly lived away from his council flat was still entitled to buy it from the London Borough of Hackney since the council could not establish that his main place of residence was elsewhere.
Barristers chambers Garden Court has gained a High Court order requiring an unnamed council to secure suitable interim accommodation under section 188(1) of the Housing Act 1996 for an asylum seeker.
The Housing Ombudsman has hailed the response of many social landlords to its October 2022 Spotlight report on noise complaints, saying that 60% of landlords who responded had self-assessed against its recommendations and were implementing an action plan.
The High Court has agreed to hear a judicial review claim challenging guidance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that puts limitations on how councils should set local energy efficiency standards for housing that go beyond national regulations.
Islington Council has been ordered to pay costs after the dismissal of possession proceedings it brought against a tenant that the council did not consider was in a homosexual relationship with the former tenant, who had passed away.
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the Local Government Association (LGA) have welcomed the Government’s proposed standard for the competence and conduct of social housing staff, but called for changes to the timetable for its implementation.
A woman with a heightened sensitivity or hypersensitivity to noise and to smell has lost a judicial review in the High Court after Mr Justice Murray decided there was nothing more the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) could reasonably have done to relieve the situation.
A recent Upper Tribunal decision involving a city council has significant implications for local housing authorities and landlords alike, writes Mikhail Charles.
Catherine Craven, Ian Larkins and Martha Mpangile round up the latest cases and court decisions of interest to housing associations and local authorities.
Julia Michalczyk considers some recent Upper Tribunal decisions on rent increases, a helpful reminder that registered providers must ensure that they follow the correct procedures when increasing the rent.
Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) examines an important, but curious, case about the limits of the duties imposed by Article 2 ECHR on public bodies to seek to secure the life of individuals in the community.
There is nothing 'perfect' about the storm local housing authorities are facing – and at the eye of that storm is temporary accommodation. The scale of the problem is daunting and, quite apart from the human cost, the financial cost is staggering, write Scott Dorling, Ian Doolittle and Sarah Monaghan.
Sarah Christy, Laura Waby and Sumi Begum round up the latest housing law cases and court decisions of interest to local authorities and housing associations.
Could the Competence and Conduct Standard affect the way you work? Thaine Wilson and Andrew Harmer look at its potential impact on the social housing sector.
The incoming RSH consumer standards are a catalyst for much wider changes to the regulatory environment for registered providers (RPs) from 1 April 2024, writes Peter Hubbard.
The Housing Ombudsman has recently identified the meaning of 'vulnerability' when it comes to social housing. Sarah Orchard and Deborah Jeremiah look at the report’s recommendations and set out the key risks for landlords.
Jeremy Ogilvie-Harris and Hannah Taylor look at how conscientious and lawful out of borough offers of accommodation under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 can be made.
Nicholas Grundy KC and Daniel Crehan consider a Court of Appeal ruling on whether a council tenant was entitled to succeed to a secure tenancy on the death of his grandmother.
Tom Bradbury, Charlotte Rawson and Janette Plummer round up the latest cases and court decisions of interest to housing associations and local authorities.