SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY POINT OF HOMELESSNESS LAW Housing solicitors at Swain and Co are today considering the implications of a decision handed down by the Supreme Court on 20th February 2013. The case of Sharif v London Borough of Camden [2012] UK SC10 allowed the Supreme Court to consider whether the duties of… Read More
From April 2013, if you live in council or housing association home and you have one or more spare bedrooms and on Housing Benefit, you entitlement may be reduced. The government has specified that the changes will not affect you if you or your partner are old enough to receive pension credit (basically if you… Read More
Housing solicitors at Swain & Co have been busily considering a decision of the Court of Appeal handed down on 24th January 2013. The court held that one joint tenant giving notice to quit will end the tenancy for all the tenants. The case of Sims v Dacorum Borough Council [2013] EWCA Civ 12 concerned… Read More
Yas Patel, one of our housing solicitors has recently obtained secure tenancies with Portsmouth City Council for three of her clients. Two of these clients were single mothers and the other client was an elderly and disabled man. All of these clients had been made homeless from private, rented accommodation. Yas has now given them… Read More
A private landlord has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after repeatedly putting a tenant at risk by not producing a gas safety record for a property in Heaton. Khalid Khan ignored both warnings from Bradford Council and from the HSE to provide proof that annual gas safety checks had been carried… Read More
Happy new year to everyone. And what a great start for our team member, Christine Douglas who qualified as a solicitor yesterday (2/1/13). Christine is part of Swain & Co.’s housing and family law teams. Congratulations Christine!
Representatives from Swain & Co Solicitors in Havant are arranging a sponsored sleep out on 18th January 2013 to raise money for Two Saints. Homelessness is an issue which the firm’s Housing Department are increasingly concerned about and deal with on a daily basis. With the economy in decline it is also an issue which… Read More
East Hampshire District Council and Havant Borough Council are asking people to provide their views regarding the future of social housing in Hampshire. Their proposals will see an end to tenancies for life and the introduction of flexible tenancies. The changes will be implemented in 2013 and the consultation ends on 30th November 2012. Swain… Read More
Two brothers in Essex are facing eviction from their council home after their family has lived there for 73 years. The brothers, aged 58 and 68, were told by the council that they had to leave following the death their brother November 2011. Their father, who was the original tenant, died in 1986 and the… Read More
We have been recognised as leading experts by the most comprehensive coverage of legal services providers – the Legal 500 United Kingdom. We have been commended for our work in civil liberties and human rights, including for housing, community care, actions against the police and prison law. These are complex areas of work where protection… Read More
