Publications

The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 (“the Act”) introduced an ability to obtain an Unlawful Profit Order (“UPO”), which is an order requiring a tenant to pay their landlord any profit they have made from subletting their home.

In the last 6 months we have seen a lot of activity both from the Government, Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) on the subject of social and affordable rent increases, and the National Housing Federation (NHF) on shared ownership rent increases.

Anna Bennett was recently instructed on the case of Issac Smith v Network Homes Limited which was one of the three conjoined appeals heard by the Court of Appeal in November 2022 with judgment being handed down on 16 December 2022.

There has been a spike in recent months of statutory nuisance notices being served on landlords pursuant to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the EPA 1990”).

The High Court has handed down judgment in the case of Driver v Crown Prosecution Service [2022] EWHC 2500 (KB). In summary, Mr Driver was awarded £250 for his data breach claim. This is a very welcome case for data controllers dealing with low level data breach claims.

With historic cuts to legal aid and the current cost of living crisis, it is not uncommon for a party to find itself litigating against somebody who has not instructed legal representatives or otherwise known as a Litigant in Person (“LiP”).

Welcome to the March 2023 edition of our Commercial Contracts Technology and Procurement Quarterly Brief!

In McQueen v General Optical Council the EAT considered whether an employee’s inappropriate conduct in the workplace was something arising from his disability and therefore protected under Equality Legislation.

From 1 April 2023, all registered providers, that own 1,000 or more units of social housing stock, must calculate and publish all TSMs on an annual basis.

The Court of Appeal recently held in the case of Birmingham CC v Bravington [2023] EWCA Civ 308 that a notice seeking possession handed to a tenant’s girlfriend at the tenant’s address amounted to good service.

As the start of a new tax year approaches there will be an increase to the statutory rates payable for certain employment rights that will apply from April 2023. We have detailed these in this week’s blog below.

In the last week headlines have been dominated by Gary Lineker, having been suspended by the BBC due to a comment he made on his personal social media account about the Government’s asylum policy.