Councils and housing associations to test direct payments of housing cost support Local authority and housing association partnerships are named as the successful volunteers the Government plans to work with on pioneering demonstration projects that will see claimants in the social rented sector directly receiving monthly housing benefit payments and paying rent to landlords themselves for the first time. The demonstration projects, which will...

ZAMMIT MAEMPEL v. MALTA – 24202/10 [2011] ECHR 1964 Article 8 of the Convention of Human Rights protects the individual’s right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. A home will usually be the place, the physically defined area, where private and family life develops. The individual has a right to respect for his home, meaning not just the right to the actual physical area, but also to the quiet...

The Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2010 amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 from 1 April 2011. It mostly contains the changes needed for the recent budget changes (capping of rates, 30 percentile of rents etc.) but it also re-introduces direct payments to landlords in certain cases. Regulation 2 of the amendment regulations amends regulation 96 HB regs 2006 which regulates when a local authority may pay a landlord direct. The new...

One of the most important elements of an inspection for HHSRS purposes is section 239(5) Housing Act 2004. This requires at least 24 hours notice of the intention to inspect to be first given to owners and occupiers where that inspection is in relation to assessing the property for the housing health and safety rating system [s.239(2)]. Before entering any premises in exercise of the power conferred by subsection (3), the authorised person or...

Below is a summary of Housing Health and Safety Rating System appeals to both the Upper Tribunal and the Residential Property Tribunal. Most significant cases are listed including appeals relating to prohibition orders and improvement notices. The hazards include excess cold, falling on stairs and procedural issues. ... Please login or signup to continue reading this...

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Possible defences - section 21 noticesAn extremely common question that arises on our helpline is when a landlord has properly served a valid section 21 notice, the tenant often goes to the housing department of the local authority. They are then told by the authority that the landlord must get a possession order before they will consider them homeless. This has several issues There is undue burdens on...