ROOF Blog

Commercial law firm EMW Picton Howell has said that the number of planning applications withdrawn by developers has increased dramatically in the past year as local planning authorities put pressure on developers to withdraw so they can meet government time limits for determining applications. The percentage of planning applications being withdrawn, called in or turned away has jumped by 63 per cent since 2001/02.

Early intervention resolves more than three-quarters of antisocial behaviour cases, whereas using anti-social behaviour orders resolved just 0.1 per cent of cases, according to research by Housemark. Top performing landlords also took just 45 days to resolve antisocial behaviour cases, compared with an average of 61 days.

In the first court ruling of its kind a vulnerable family has been told they can stay in their home as owner occupiers or rent it for life, after almost losing it in a repossession sale and rent back scam. The case, bought before the court with Shelter’s help, saw the judge brand the sale and rent back company Repossessions Stopped as ‘dishonest’ for promising the family could stay in their home forever. Within two years of the company selling the property on, the new owner defaulted on the mortgage and the house was repossessed, with the family nearly evicted.

A recent decision by Rushcliffe borough council to refuse planning permission for a 1,200 home development on green belt land has been overturned by communities secretary John Denham. The local authority had thrown out the scheme on the grounds that it would have created traffic and resulted in a loss of green belt land, however, the secretary of state said there was an ‘urgent need’ for the release of land for housing in Rushcliffe.

City regulator the Financial Services Authority announced a sharp increase in penalties to come in from February 2010. Under the new rules individuals will face a minimum fine of £100,000 while companies will be hit with penalties worth up to £50 million. An insider said that the FSA had to increase its fines because ‘insufficient account’ had been taken in some cases of previous enforcement action, often as the companies stood to earn much more in profit flouting the rules than they stood to lose from a fine.

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) has also questioned the new repossession proposals for rented property. It has called for the government to be clearer about its intentions to implement the schemes into law ‘at the next opportunity’ saying the timeline is far too vague. It also says that seeking to notify tenants seven weeks before repossession hearings could encourage tenants to break their contracts and seek new landlords too early.

Guidance on renegotiating section 106 agreements is to be released by the Homes and Communities Agency later this month. The guidance for local authorities and developers is needed following a High Court ruling last year that quashed Blythe Valley borough council’s 30 per cent affordable housing policy and a similar High Court challenge currently against Wakefield Metropolitan district council.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, which has been researching housing allocation for the Equalities Commission since last year, has concluded that Gordon Brown’s pledge to provide more social housing for local people is ‘flawed’ and could open up councils to legal challenge. Its unpublished interim report notes that there was no evidence that allocation policies discriminate against white groups and there was only a small amount of evidence that some policies unintentionally discriminate against minority ethnic communities, but the perception otherwise could trigger legal challenges against local authorities by those who feel unfairly treated.

A Sunday Times investigations has found that members of the royal family have been granted ‘sweetheart’ property deals worth millions. The Crown Estate, which manages £7.3 billion of land and property owned by the crown, allowed several properties to be sold cheaply to Prince Andrew, who subsequently sold them on at substantial profit, while securing rent-free residences for his two daughters. Crown Estate says it took legal advice for the valuations, but ‘special circumstances’ meant such properties cannot always get the highest market valuation.

The House of Lords has ruled that women staying in temporary refuges after fleeing domestic violence will be considered homeless and have the right to be found a permanent home. Shelter fought the case of a mother of two children who stayed in a refuge after fleeing a domestic violence situation whose application to be homeless was refused, because she was seen to be ‘adequately housed’. The ruling overturns the present situation where only women who register with a local authority are deemed homeless.