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08 July 2016 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7706 / Categories: Features , Civil way
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Civil way: 8 July 2016

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  • Landlords bless Supreme Court.
  • Sherlock Holmes wrong on fact finding.
  • New service charge code.
  • Legal aid goes soft on MIAMs.
  • London more expensive.
  • Direct access: ecstasy and agony.

PHEW!

Private landlords have escaped. Where it is a public authority seeking possession of premises, the occupier can defend on the ground of proportionality (Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45, [2011] 1 All ER 285). The Supreme Court scotched the idea that the same defence could be run with a private tenancy on 15 June 2016 in McDonald v McDonald and others [2016] UKSC 28, [2016] All ER (D) 81 (Jun) in which even the Residential Landlords Association poked in its nose as intervener in writing. Private landlords do deserve a break what with retaliatory eviction, the deposit protection minefield, a prescribed notice under s 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and more traps than a mice farm on April Fool’s Day to contend with (see Civil Way 165 NLJ 7671, p 17, 165

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: Mazur and more—inside the litigation frontline

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

NLJ this week: Social media bans for children spark legal dilemmas
Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
NLJ this week: Leasehold reform risks creating ‘forgotten freeholders’
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
NLJ this week: Court of Appeal clarifies when a claim truly begins
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
NLJ this week: Split FDRs could ease pressure—and boost settlements
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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