News

Over the next week or so, three words – “Happy New Year !“ – shall be uttered to colleagues as normal business resumes following the Yuletide break. It seems like it was only yesterday that the same words were used as we waved goodbye to 2015 and said hello 2016.

The Autumn Statement revealed five key themes for the social housing sector and while uncertainty inevitably remains, registered providers (RPs) must take advantage of the potential opportunities.

As of 1st December 2016, the Immigration Act 2014 will be amended by Sections 39 to 41 of the Immigration Act 2016. The provisions apply to private sector landlords and to social landlords.

On the 9 November 2016 the Supreme Court announced its judgment to the bedroom tax challenges made against the government.

The new Construction and Engineering Protocol will come into effect on 9 November 2016 following a joint collaboration between TecBar and TecSA with the assistance of Mr Justice Coulson. The focus of the changes seems to be to reduce pre-action costs and speed up the pre-action procedure.

Since 2006, contracting authorities have been able to use the competitive dialogue (CD) procedure to procure contracts that cannot be awarded without prior dialogue with bidders due to the complex nature of the contract.

From low level noise through to full blown party houses, Airbnb and subletting is creating a broad range of issues for registered providers (RPs). That was the message that came through loud and clear at a recent event we held to discuss the impact of the room-letting website on the social housing sector.

On the 1 November 2016 the Court of Appeal considered the case of Holley v Hillingdon LBC. Mr Holley continued to occupy a property owned by the local authority following the death of the tenant, his grandfather, who had previously succeeded to the tenancy.

The recent decision of Upper Tribunal in Various Occupational Leaseholders of Foundling Court and O’Donnell Court, Brunswick Centre, London v (1) Camden LBC; (2) Allied London (Brunswick) Ltd and others provided helpful guidance in dealing with the consultation process under S.20 where there is an intermediate landlord and occupational leaseholders.

This case involved the leaseholder, Mr Aviram, carrying out works to his flat, in particular replacing his boiler. The new boiler required a new vent and waste pipe to be installed. The lease prohibited works to the external walls without consent of the freeholder.

This case was considered by the Court of Appeal on 4 December 2015 and concerned a claim by the leaseholder for damages for disrepair when the leaseholder was not occupying the flat concerned for reasons unconnected to the disrepair.

This case was considered by the Upper Tribunal on 25 September 2015 and concerned Mr Cain’s challenge to reasonableness of service charges over the previous 12 years. This is an important case as it provides scope for limiting the leaseholders ability to challenge the reasonableness of the service charges where the leaseholder has repeatedly paid the service charges in the past. Therefore, landlords should be aware of this case, particularly with a view to limiting the scope of challenges to the service charges by their leaseholders.