Memorandum of understanding between the Regulator of Social Housing and the Charity Commission. Important for charitable social landlords in England: www.gov.uk/government/p...

This is a remarkable case which will see the Chief Constable punished for contempt! Much to unpack but huge praise due to junior counsel for the appellant and, for very different reasons, to counsel for the Chief Constable caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/202...

Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been refused in the case of Beach v South Hams DC. The case concerned accom offered to a man where the LA had accepted the full housing duty; he was in priority need as he had children, but he presented without the children, in need of emergency accom

This isn't an exclusive. These LA-owned/controlled housing companies have existed for decades. And have many legitimate purposes (e.g. to allow social housing to be built without attracting the RTB). www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Can't think of many better illustrations of how badly we have botched housing policy than the fact that our bill for housing homeless families (£2.8bn pa) is now higher than the money we spend each year on new affordable housing (£2.3bn) www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/english...

Ye gods. Westminster accept a breach of s.193(2) HA 1996 and accept they have been in breach for months. They want 12 weeks to comply. The court gave them 4. They went down for a proportion of C's costs plus their own. caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2...

Rayner says in her resignation letter: "The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help." Absolutely. A shame to lose that perspective from the cabinet table.

The long tradition of the position of Sec of State for housing being a cursed one continues.

Ooh - that's a very important discovery.

This isn’t a hard one. Right to Buy massively benefited one generation of tenants (and good luck to them) but at the expense of subsequent generations of people in housing need. And the consequential homelessness costs are destroying the finances of local councils to this day.

Now there is a vacancy... time for the Karen Buck bat signal?

Made it into the new Private Eye @privateeyenews.bsky.social Now I can retire.

That rarest of beasts - the 2nd case from the UT on the duties on letting agents to publish details of fees. www.gov.uk/administrati...

One (small) bit of good news on homelessness in England - number of families in B&B has dropped by over 30% (March 2025 as against March 2024). Applications still going up. Households in TA still going up. www.gov.uk/government/s...

England and Wales have diverged on eligibility for homelessness assistance and allocations. Intention appears to have been to catch same people (Brits fleeing conflict in Middle East). E has a general category (anyone leaving any country pusuant to gov advice) W has limited it to identified areas.

Full service charge protection consultation here 👇🏻 www.gov.uk/government/c...

The leasehold reform paper is out. Essentially, a mixture of questions around implementing the service charge / management aspects of the 2024 Act and then questions about wider reform. This is a serious piece of work www.gov.uk/government/c...

Strengthening leaseholder consumer rights "Following the consultation, we intend to bring the various measures into force as quickly as possible. To end the feudal leasehold system for good" @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social #Leaseholdscandal questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

I think if you asked people in the social housing sector you'd get a wildly different picture. Most of what they've done has gone down extremely well so far. But the impacts of these policies and the extra funding are long term, not generating immediate changes for the better.

Not on Westlaw yet but important homelessness case - s.189A assessments are challenged by JR, not by ss.202/204 review/appeal. www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

Ooh! A very good change to Part 6, HA 1996 - from 10 July 2025, a local authority cannot apply "local connection" tests under Part 6 to certain categories of domestic abuse survivor nor certain care leavers www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/70...

The abolition of priority need and the concept of intentional homelessness! Come and join us as we talk through these major changes to homelessness law in Wales. www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/events/homel...

One date on the horizon I didn't know about before reading this was 2039: the year that the Flood Re scheme which splits the risk of flood between insurers and government ends. If it's not replaced, "It’s quite possible they’ll just withdraw from insuring in certain locations."

I realise that this is not the key point of this judgment, but the idea that a pupil should ever have been doing a housing JR of this nature is absurd. This is far, far above what is suitable for a pupil. caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2...

"For all the incompetence and obstruction demonstrated by Mr Webber, there is no reason to think that Ms Syed was charged more than a reasonable amount for the cover obtained." Anyone who has appeared before the DP can imagine his tone... landschamber.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk/Aspx/view.as...

Interesting CPRC minutes (h/t @robin-stewart.bsky.social ) which suggest social landlords will be allowed to grant ASTs and use s.21 HA 1988 for a while even after the Renters Rights Bill becomes law. The reforms will apply to the PRS first... assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67f63f...

We must close the significant gap between the amount of land allocated and permissioned and the number of homes being completed. We’ve today published a working paper seeking views on further action the government can take to increase build out rates 👇🏻 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Proud to have contributed to this. An amazing team and a lot of work sit behind it. Continue to be blown away by the bravery of those impacted and the powerful way they push for change and justice. Hope this helps move that forward. (TW - images of Grenfell on fire) www.youtube.com/watch?v=33r1...

Big homelessness reforms in Wales, including abolishing priority need and intentionality test. laiddocuments.senedd.wales/pri-ld17178-...

More on the AI fake legal cases - a hearing for contempt of court this Friday. Not just wasted costs orders now, but possibly contempt proceedings. This ain't pretty. www.judiciary.uk/judgments/al...

This is very concerning. Huge data hack at the Legal Aid Agency.

This was one of the last cases of the late Simon Mullings. His CA victory stands as the SC refuses permission to appeal www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2... SC also refuses permission in the 'absolute ground' case

www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2... SC declines to take up a slightly odd RTB case

"You should always double-check the legal cases AI comes up with." Aghhhhhh. Do. Not. Use. AI. For. Legal. Research. In. First. Place.

I am afraid I can't make it owing to pre-existing U10s football duties! Good luck to all the nominees. The work you do is of enormous value and importance

File on 4 - the ongoing fire safety crisis. With Pete Apps who, frankly, knows this suff inside out. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2... A total disaster all round.

Jesus Christ. If you’re not prepared for trial you ask for an adjournment, you don’t MURDER YOUR CLIENT. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

New homelessness, allocations and building safety laws for Wales. Details are light but the announcement is here: record.senedd.wales/Plenary/1507...

Local government housing finance question - does anyone have a copy of the HRA (Exclusion of Leases) Direction 1997 they could let me have?

Important UT(LC) case on FTT procedure and the error of taking the inquisitorial approach too far. Ground 2 also important on bias/unfairness. landschamber.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk/Aspx/view.as...

Scottish homelessness case in the SC. Legal structure similar (but not identical) to Wales and England. Approval of the 'suitable for the time being' approach. www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

And this is even after the 2011 reforms which allowed LAs greater control over who entered the list in the first place.

You know you're getting old when your former pupil brings you in to an appeal...

BBC News - Councils putting homeless children at risk, MPs find www.bbc.com/news/article...

Excellent piece