News, events and consultations
Possession and Anti Social Behaviour Consultation
The Department of Communities and Local Government has issued a consultation on amending grounds of possession for anti-social behaviour.
The original proposal was for a new mandatory ground of possession for those convicted of a second housing related offence, or breaching an ASBO or ASBI. Following the riots, the consultation was rapidly amended to include a proposal to remove the ‘locality’ condition in Ground 2 Housing Act 1985/Ground 14 Housing Act 1988 for certain ‘riot related’ offences.
The revised consultation can be found here. Closing date is 7 November 2011
HLPA will be preparing a response.
Squatting Consultation
The Ministry of Justice is consulting on ‘options for dealing with squatters’. Proposals include the criminalisation of squatting in a building.
The consultation can be found here. The closing date is 5 October 2011.
HLPA is preparing a response. Suggestions can be made to David Watkinson at davidw@gclaw.co.uk
CLS Funding Order
The Community Legal Service (Funding) (Amendment No. 2) Order 2011 has been made, implementing the 10% fee cuts from 3 October 2011. A copy of the Order with the revised fee schedules can be downloaded here [pdf].
The Order affects new Legal Helps and certificates from 3 October 2011. Existing matters remain on the old fee rates.
The draft Order contained a proposal to limit surveyor/EHO expert fees to £225 for a report. This would have made it impossible to run disrepair claims or counterclaims on legal aid. After vigorous lobbying, not least by HLPA, this has been removed. Instead surveyor/EHO fees are limited to £50 per hour, with no set fee for a report.
21 September 2011 Meeting
7 pm 21 September 2011
Homelessness and Allocation
Speakers:
Robert Latham: Doughty Street Chambers
Liz Davies: Garden Court Chambers
From 7 pm at Portland Hall, University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW
October 2011 Legal Aid fees cut – consultation on the Order
On 13 July, the Ministry of Justice published the draft “Community Legal Service (Funding) (Amendment No.2) Order 2011. The Law Society and Bar Council have been invited to respond by 10 August. HLPA has the opportunity to feed into this process. This order is intended to implement the 10% fee cut in legal aid rates, codify barristers’ fees and reduce them by 10%, and set experts’ fees at a very low level.
Robert Latham has prepared a paper outlining the current proposals, here.
The draft order is here.
The MoJ letter setting out the basis of the consultation is here.
Members please send any views or responses to Robert at r.latham@doughtystreet.co.uk , as soon as possible.
20 July 2011 Meeting
7 pm 20 July 2011
Bringing Disrepair Claims
Speakers:
Timothy Waitt: Anthony Gold Solicitors
Michael Paget: Garden Court Chambers
From 7 pm at Portland Hall, University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW
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Yorkshire Housing Law Practitioners AGM 13 July 2011
Yorkshire Housing Law Practitioners Association
The next meeting of YHLPA will be at 6.30 on 13 July 2011
At BPP Law School, Whitehall Quays, Leeds
Annual General Meeting
Jan Luba QC
“Homelessness, Allocations and Security of Tenure: what is changing in Housing Law and when?”
Free.
County Court reform – consultation response
HLPA’s response to the MoJ consultation paper on reform of the County Courts has been submitted and can be read here [link to .doc file].
Homelessness seminar 22 June 2011
Homelessness: S.202 Reviews and S.204 Appeals
Wednesday 22 June 2011
A booking form can be downloaded here for the above HLPA Seminar, which will be held from 6.00-8.00pm on Wednesday 22 June at Hodge Jones & Allen LLP, 180 North Gower Street, London NW1 2NB.
The seminar will deal with the topic of Homelessness: S.202 Reviews and S.204 Appeals – How to ensure that your S.202 review submissions do not derail your S.204 appeal. It will be of value to all housing practitioners, including HLPA’s less experienced members. The seminar leader is David Watkinsion from Garden Court Chambers.
For further information, contact:
Professional Briefings
london@profbriefings.co.uk
01920 487672
“Human Rights at Home”
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has just issued guidance on human rights for social housing providers. The guidance can be found here [link to PDF].
HLPA played a part in the drafting of this guidance.