Victims of Rogue Landlords: For You!

6 April 2018. A good day for housing tenants in England.  A landlord or letting agent convicted of certain offences will be vulnerable to a first-tier tribunal order banning them for at least 12 months from letting or engaging in letting agency work. If they break the ban they can be prosecuted (and fined or imprisoned) or stung by the local housing authority for a penalty of up to £30,000. Ouch! If your accommodation is in a building which needs a multiple occupation licence then the banning order will prohibit the landlord from obtaining one or, if they already have a licence, it will be revoked. Without a licence, a landlord cannot serve a notice to kill off an assured shorthold tenancy under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

So what are these offences which could lead to horrible consequences for the landlord or agent? Loadsacrime. They include unlawful eviction and harassment, violence for securing entry, failing to comply with an improvement notice of prohibition order, multiple occupation offences, contravention of an overcrowding notice and fire and gas safety offences.

You can't apply to the tribunal for a banning order yourself. That will be down to the local housing authority. But what you can do is to draw the landlord's attention to what might happen if they don't remedy unlawful action they have taken or comply with the law they have so far ignored. But please don't go over the top with your language or parade outside their home with a sandwich board proclaiming that they are Rachman Incarnate or you might end up in the dock with them.

Now this may interest you even more and here you can take action yourself rather than having to encourage the police or the local authority to do so. If your landlord is convicted of one of a set of offences committed on or after 6 April 2018 you can apply to a first-tier tribunal for a rent repayment order. Under that the landlord can be ordered to repay you the rent you have paid for up to 12 months. But you must make the tribunal application within 12 months of the offence being committed. And what are theses offences which could earn you your money back? They include breaching a banning order (see above) and failing to comply with an improvement order. You will find them fully set out in section 40 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

For pedants, disbelievers and the curious, see sections 13 to 48 and schedules 1 to 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Banning Order Offences) Regulations 2018 SI 2018/216 and the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Commencement No 8) Regulations 2018 SI/2018/393.

For much, much more on Tenant v Landlord, get Breaking Law.

Big Personal Injury Claims: Why To Watch Out for New Damages Law

Any victim of an accident who has suffered serious injury and is making a claim against whoever was to blame would do well to keep an eye on the Civil Liability Bill and to government action which follows it being brought into law. The Bill to apply in England and Wales was introduced to the House of Lords this week. It will result in compensation awards being reduced and so it will be more beneficial to claimants to settle or have their claims tried by a judge under the current law rather than the expected new law. We are some way off  seeing the expected new law in action but serious personal injury claims can take a long time to be brought to a conclusion. Hence, the eye on the Bill.

This is what it is all about.  A serious injury can require long-term care and long-term medical expenses and treatments. Future losses. A claimant should be compensated for these by the insurers for the blameworthy defendant and this will be by a lump sum on top of compensation for pain and suffering and other losses. But this lump sum will be invested and only used as and when money is needed, perhaps over many years. The investment will earn interest for the claimant. The law already provides for the lump sum to be reduced by a percentage figure which reflects the likely interest that the investment will earn. It's called a discount rate and it is widely accepted that the discount rate being applied is over compensating claimants. It is too low and claimants are effectively making a profit to the displeasure of insurers and often the NHS where it is shelling out the cash.

What looks like happening under the new law is that the discount rate will reflect the interest likely to be generated from a low risk  diversified selection of investments instead of  a very low risk selection as now. Spot the difference. In practice, that will have a substantial impact on the discount. The new rate is intended to be reviewed 'promptly' after the law is on the statute book and to be reviewed at least every three years. It will apply across the board to all relevant cases.

As to whether the new law will bring down insurance premiums, don't hold your breath!

For much more on compensation of all kinds, keep both eyes on Breaking Law.

Ticketless Train Passengers: New Rights

'Yes, you sir with a paper bag over your head and crouching in the corner of this first class compartment. Would you do me the honour of showing me your ticket?'

Travelling on a train without a ticket will probably earn you what is sweetly called a rail penalty fare. Alternatively, it might earn you a criminal prosecution. Ouch. The penalty fare is the more likely unless they've got you down as a regular non-payer. 

The law is changing on penalty fares on 6 April 2018 in England, Wales and Scotland. Generally, all rail passenger services must follow it except TFL or any of its subsidiaries. The big change is that a streamlined three-staged appeals procedure will apply which is similar to that currently operated by TFL and will be independent of the train operator. The clock will stop for paying the penalty fare pending the result of the appeal. The operator will be banned from imposing a penalty fare if it has not complied with the requirements for the appeals machinery. And a passenger must not be charged a penalty fare if there were no facilities to buy a ticket at the station at which they boarded or  the legal requirements for displaying warning notices about travelling ticketless have not been complied with.

One of the appeal grounds will be that there are 'compelling reasons' why the passenger should not be liable for the penalty fare.

The new law is to be found in the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018 SI 2018/366. Take a look at them when the collector isn't around - or (politely) ask the collector to do so. Essential reading if you feel you have been wrongly or unfairly issued with a penalty fare ticket. 

This blog will not be stopping here. Please mind the gaps in this post.

New Laws For Homeless

Homeless or threatened with homelessness? Some good news for a change. You can demand more help from the housing department of your local council as from 3 April 2018 when the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 comes into force (through commencement order SI/2018/167) and applies only to England.  A code of guidance on how councils should discharge their new duties towards you  has been issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government which you can access at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities  It's well worth doing so. You will there see spelt out  in language which is almost digestible without the aid of medication what is expected of councils.

Councils will have to begin giving help earlier than is currently required. That's because you will be treated as threatened with homelessness if it is likely you will be actually made homeless within 56 days, compared with the present 28 days. You will also be treated as threatened with homelessness if you are an assured shorthold tenant and have received a valid notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 which requires you to leave within 56 days. 

Provided the council reckons you have a priority need and have not intentionally made yourself homeless they they must secure you suitable accommodation. That's the law now and will remain the law. But the situation is tough on those who do not have a priority need like most  single persons and the intentionally homeless. The new law imposes duties on councils to help even the non-priority and intentionally homeless who have been neglected for too long. 

The first new duty to those eligible is to assess your case and to give you the assessment in writing. It will look at the circumstances in which you came to be homeless or under threat, your housing needs and what support is necessary. The council is also to try and agree a housing plan with you. If there's no agreement on the plan then the council must record any steps it considers it reasonable for you to take and what steps it will take itself. 

There is a revised separate duty towards an eligible person threatened with homelessness which will be to take reasonable steps to ensure that accommodation does not cease to be available to you. Those steps could extend to providing some accommodation. When looking at what steps are reasonable, regard will be had to that assessment I mentioned. This duty will normally run for 56 days but it could be longer for the recipient of a section 21 notice who remains where they are when the notice expires and awaits court proceedings to evict them.

Once the council is satisfied that you are actually homeless, there is a new duty to take reasonable steps to help you secure suitable accommodation for at least six months. That duty will last for 56 days unless it is brought an end by the council at an earlier date in one of the situations that are specified by the legislation.  The duty will not arise if the council refers you to another housing authority because you lack a local connection with the council to which you have gone for help. 

Decisions by the council on theses duties will generally be open to review at your option. Where you reckon the council is not doing its job, you should seek help from an advice agency such as the CAB or local law centre or you may be eligible for legal aid. You will find others sources of help in Breaking Law. Shelter gives free housing advice in any London borough on 0344 515 1540 and some legal advice for those who pass a means test may be available from the Legal Aid Agency on 0345 345 4345. Good luck.

Litigants In Person: Must Read

If, despite the fact you could not tell the difference between a left leg and  a right arm, you performed surgery on yourself, nobody would expect you to do as good a job as a surgeon. But if you acted for yourself in civil legal proceedings, the court would generally expect you to follow the rules of procedure as correctly as a trained lawyer. Or would it?

I am afraid so. That's clear from judgments last week by the Supreme Court.* Three of the Justices agreed that a litigant in person was not entitled to greater indulgence in complying with the procedural rules and practice directions - they are to be found in and with the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 - than their opponent who was represented by lawyers. Any advantage enjoyed by a litigant in person, they said, imposed a corresponding disadvantage on the other side which had  a lawyer. It was reasonable to expect a litigant in person to familiarise themselves with the rules which applied to any step they were about to take unless the rules and practice directions were 'particularly inaccessible or obscure.' These Justices were in no doubt that what the litigant in person in the case had needed to check up on if he had chosen to do so was readily accessible on the internet and elsewhere. 

You may find as a litigant in person that your claim or defence has been thrown out by the court or you face the treat of that happening because you have fallen foul of a procedural requirement. Well, you can always have a go at running the argument that  you are a litigant in person and that the requirement was buried away in a document which was 'particularly inaccessible or obscure' though don't hold your breath. And in a borderline case where you are asking the court to forgive your transgression - it's known as an application for relief from the sanction the court has imposed because of your  mistake- the fact you are on your own may just tip the balance so never be shy about emphasising it.

The Supreme Court rulings concerned the strictest type of procedural requirement over service of a claim form where the court's approach may be different to that on a relief from sanction application.  The litigant in person in the case had  failed to serve the claim form on the other side in an approved manner. He had faxed it to them when he was not entitled to do so and by the time he discovered the error, it was too late to remedy it. The claim form was by then invalid and it was not possible for a fresh claim to be made because time had expired for starting claims of that kind. My book Breaking Law covers the time limits for starting proceedings.

Breaking Law (here he goes again) is oozing with material which is aimed at preventing those litigating without a lawyer to avoid procedural traps - and much else. 

* The case was Barton v Wright Hassall LLP [2018] UKSC 12

Employment Tribunal Awards To Increase

If you were thinking of procuring your unfair dismissal from work, it could pay you to hold on just a little bit longer. The amount of compensation to which you would be entitled if an employment tribunal decided that your boss had broken employment law is increased for dismissals and other employer transgressions which take place on or after 6 April 2018. 

The compensation is reviewed annually in line with the inevitable increase in the retail prices index. The relevant increase for September 2016 to September 2017 was 3.9% and so the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2018 SI 2018/194 reflects the increase in the new compensation figures. For example,the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal jumps from £80,541 to £83,682 and the amount of one week's pay for the purposes of calculating redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal rises from £489 to £508.

Also on 6 April 2019 new laws come in which will compel employers to particularise in pay statements the number of hours worked where you are time-paid and this and other pay slip requirements will be extend to all workers. For more, watch this space.

The Curse of Interest on Business Debts: New Laws

If you aren't in business then I suggest you do something more worthwhile than reading this post - like washing your hair or cutting your toenails, or both. It's about interest which one business has to pay to another business when it is late in settling a debt. The terms and conditions of the creditor  business may dictate the interest rate for which the debtor business is stung. Where it is silent or the creditor wishes to take advantage of it then the The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 kicks in and allows for statutory interest at 8% over bank base rate for goods and services debts and a fixed enforcement prize to the creditor (£40 for debts under £1,000, £70 for £1,000 plus and £100 for £10,000 and over). 

As from 26 February 2018 the representative bodies for businesses like trade associations are given the power to challenge ‘grossly unfair’ terms and practices of creditor businesses relating to the date or period for payment of a debt, the right to interest for late payment and compensation for late payment by way of a court injunction application. This is thanks to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Amendment) Regulations 2018 SI2018/117 which are themselves ridiculously late in being given the kiss of life following an EU directive and previous domestic legalisation which should have gone further than it did.