Manchester City Council should have made greater efforts to ensure that an improvement notice ands 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)
Somerset Council has agreed to explore its legal options for evicting an Israeli-owned weapons manufacturer from an office building the local authority owns after receiving legal advice from a KC on behalf of a pro-Palestinian pressure group.
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).
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.
Homes England should have "even stronger relationships" with local government in order to boost housing delivery, a Government review of the non-departmental body has found.
The Environment Agency has “successfully pursued” ten boat-owners through the courts, who had moored continuously on the River Thames for several years.
Brighton and Hove City Council and Adur District Council have voted to support the campaign for Zane’s Law, which would ensure councils keep public registers of land that may be contaminated.
The National Housing Federation (NHF) has called for further measures to ensure the Building Safety Levy does not adversely impact the supply of new affordable homes.
The rules on doubling council tax for long-term empty properties are to apply when a property has been uninhabited for 12 months, rather than the current two years, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced.
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.
Ed Telepneff examines a key proposal contained in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act in relation to the time limit for enforcement against breaches of planning control.
At what point does a site cease to be “available” for the purposes of the sequential test? This was the question considered in a recent case, writes Katie Scuoler.
The London Borough of Southwark has successfully obtained the setting aside of parts of a final order made under s.84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 modifying covenants in a lease of a public house. Philip Rainey KC explains how.
Alison Marr analyses the transfer of public assets to community bodies in Scotland and the disconnect within part 5 of the Community Empowerment Act 2015.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is to consult on a proposal to clear hurdles for developers of brownfield sites. Rita Bange examines the detail.
A dispute over whether revenue generated by Whitby Harbour should have been ring-fenced for harbour use in accordance with a 120-year-old Act is set to be considered by the High Court this week.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has issued legal proceedings against a water firm and a landowner over a sinkhole that has afflicted residents on a residential street since 2019.
The Minister for Housing and Building Safety, Lee Rowley, has called a meeting of council chief executives to discuss action against building owners who fail to remediate medium and high-rise buildings with known safety issues.
The Supreme Court will next week hear a council’s appeal of a Court of Appeal judgment which overturned lower court rulings that found diminution in value in Japanese knotweed cases was irrecoverable economic loss and ordered the council to pay damages to a property owner.
The Local Government Association has called for changes to the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme in order to prevent the current net loss of social housing stock year on year currently being experienced by local authorities.
The Government has launched consultations on changes to national policy to strengthen planning support for brownfield development, and further changes to permitted development rights (PDRs).
Welsh councils could provide more homes without environmental damage on brownfield sites if they took a more interventionist and collaborative approach, the Auditor General for Wales has said.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has welcomed Government proposals for greater flexibility in the use of capital receipts but warned this would make only a marginal difference to the financial plight facing most councils.
The British Library is seeking to appoint a legal services provider that will work within its governance and statutory frameworks “to advise and transact on, structure and prepare the relevant documentation for complex property matters”.
The First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has ordered two property firms to pay nearly £18m for post-Grenfell works on blocks in the former Olympic Village in east London.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in the high-profile case between Dartmoor landowners and the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) over the lawfulness of wild camping.
The Government is to hand back some powers to Liverpool City Council before June 2024, after Commissioners expressed confidence in the leadership of the local authority.
The Supreme Court has held that the court has power to grant 'newcomer injunctions' aimed at stopping unauthorised encampments by unknown persons but only in circumstances where there is a "compelling need" to protect civil rights or to enforce public law that is not adequately met by other available remedies.
The Supreme Court will next week (29 November) hand down a ruling on whether courts can grant final injunctions that prevent persons, who are unknown and unidentified as at the date of the order, from occupying and trespassing on land.
The influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned that the school estate has deteriorated to the point where 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that needs “major rebuilding or refurbishment”.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published two 'working papers' seeking feedback on its assessment of the use of landbanks, and how planning rules concerning zoning, consultations and local plan processes may be impacting competition and how new homes are delivered.
The number of empty homes in England has risen by nearly 10% and past the million mark in the past five years, to the equivalent of just over 1% of the country’s housing stock, the Local Government Association (LGA) had claimed.
Enfield Council is set to face a judicial review of its proposal to lease part of a public park and shuttered golf course to a football club, after a group of local residents argued against the plans on environmental grounds.
Maidenhead United Football Club has said it is preparing to take legal action for breach of contract after the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead axed a plan for the club to move to a new ground.
Newham is understood to have become the first local authority in Britain to successfully prosecute a building owner for failing to remove flammable cladding.
The Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, has said that that RAAC mitigation funding for social housing should “primarily come from rental income”.
A £120m land deal involving Hertfordshire County Council has put the local authority at risk of a judicial review after residents claimed that some of the land was sold unlawfully.
Edward Cousins discusses the enactment of the Commons Act 2006, the introduction of comprehensive systems for the exchange of common land, and recent caselaw.
A Tribunal has upheld a council’s decision to include what the judge described as a ‘drinking man’s boozer’ on the list of assets of community value. John Fitzsimons looks at the ruling.
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that property guardianship companies must licence premises as HMOs (houses in multiple occupation). Ranjit Bhose KC and Tara O’Leary analyse the ruling.
An error in the Building Safety Act 2022 means protections for some leaseholders may be at risk if a lease extension is agreed. Matthew Williams explains why.
Jessica Arczynski and Rubianka Winspear set out some key considerations for landlords arising out of the Government’s announcement of Wave 2.2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
David Shakesby looks at the lessons to be learned from a dispute between a further education college and a district council over the planned sale of an empty and unused property.
Christopher Cant looks at the key lessons to be learned from recent Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) statutory appeals relating to issues over "in-use buildings".
Colin Ricciardello and Jonathan Blunden analyse the increasing number of challenges to councils' use of s123 of the Local Government Act 1972 (the “1972 Act”).
A group of 59 leaseholders recently successfully appealed against improvement notices served by Central Bedfordshire Council, with the relevant notices quashed. Robert Bowker and Claire Lyon, who represented the leaseholders, look at the lessons to be learnt.
Two recent compulsory purchase decisions have highlighted certain areas of risk to acquiring authorities, writes Matthew Tucker. These decisions particularly emphasise the importance of the process of negotiation and also indicate a heightened level of scrutiny of acquiring authorities’ conduct in this respect.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill (the “Bill” or ‘Martyn’s Law’) was published by the UK government on 2nd May 2023. The Bill is currently in draft and is being reviewed by the Home Affairs Select Committee, therefore subject to amendment prior to any subsequent introduction to Parliament, write James Nelson and Ewan Anthony.