tenant | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

What happened during 2.5 days of judicial hearings involving evictions and mortgage repossessions at the Liverpool County Court in 2021?

By John Brace (Editor) and Leonora Brace (Co-Editor)
First publication date: Friday 28th October 2022, 12:00 (BST).

**Liverpool Civil & Family Court – where the in person possession hearings this piece is about were heard**

Please note (as the University of Liverpool is mentioned in this piece) the author (John Brace) in the interests of transparency declares that he and his Co-Editor (Leonora Brace) both had University of Liverpool library cards at the time this piece was written and in the case of the author at the time of publication too.

There was a long delay in publishing this piece on this blog as the embargo on publication was put back from that originally notified to us (originally it was September 2021), then it was put back to late October 2021. Unfortunately around then my Co-Editor Leonora (who would normally agree to the published version before publication) fell ill (and sadly died in mid-January 2022). Then, following a period of bereavement in 2022, I broke my arm (twice in 2022 in mid-July and early September 2022) which further reduced available editing capacity, so my apologies for the unusually long delay in this piece being published (which was originally written in Summer 2021)!

Please note that the names of certain individual parties in this piece such as tenants and those subject to mortgage repossession have been deliberately changed to other fictional names in this article. Where the landlord is an individual I have left his or her name in the piece. In relation to one of the hearings I observed (Bank of Scotland PLC T/A Halifax -v- GJ) a published reporting restrictions order of Deputy District Judge Ellis prevents this blog publishing the name of the Defendant, or information that could lead to the Defendant’s identification who is referred to by the initials GJ.

In respect of the other observed judicial hearings (to which no reporting restrictions apply) an editorial balancing test was undertaken regarding the privacy of the individuals anonymised (those being evicted from their home or having their home repossessed) and the public interest in their real names being placed in the public domain. It was (after a lot of discussion) finally agreed between Leonora and myself that anonymising the names and replacing their names with fictional names (as their consent to publication was not sought before publication) was the most appropriate solution. Any similarity between any of the fictional names chosen and the names of real living individuals is purely coincidental and not intended! Fictional names are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Continue reading “What happened during 2.5 days of judicial hearings involving evictions and mortgage repossessions at the Liverpool County Court in 2021?”

Will two overlooked covenants for “enjoyment of light” prevent a fire station at Saughall Massie from happening?

Planning Committee (Wirral Council) site visit Saughall Massie fire station 18th July 2017 photo 1 of 40 — Planning Committee (Wirral Council) site visit Saughall Massie fire station 18th July 2017 This photo shows properties with windows facing the proposed fire station

Today I read Land Registry title number MS503610 which covers various properties and includes thirteen of the properties owned by Wirral Partnership Homes Limited (who trade as Magenta Living) that are adjacent to the proposed fire station in Saughall Massie.

One of the entries in title MS503610 states the following:

“5. The right to the unimpeded access and enjoyment of light and air to all windows in the buildings now on the Retained Land from or over such part of the Property provided that nothing expressed or implied in this Transfer shall prevent the Transferee from developing the Property.”

This is about the landlord’s right to light.

and

“By Transfers of adjacent or neighbouring land pursuant to Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Housing Act 1980 or Part V of the Housing Act 1985, the land in this title has the benefit of and is subject to the easements and other rights prescribed by paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1980 or paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 to the Housing Act 1985.”
Continue reading “Will two overlooked covenants for “enjoyment of light” prevent a fire station at Saughall Massie from happening?”

Allegations in eviction court case started by Wirral Council were struck out by Judge

Those with long memories might remember reading a story on this blog a month ago headlined Why did residents endure 11 years of antisocial behaviour from the neighbour from “hell” before Wirral Council took legal action to try to have a tenant evicted? which detailed a legal case where Wirral Council (acting on behalf of Leasowe Community Homes) had tried to have a former Leasowe Community Homes tenant called Danielle New evicted.

Sadly not all the court orders were sent to me. I emailed the Birkenhead County Court on the 13th July (using the email address on their letter) pointing out that a court order dated 9th October 2013 had not been included, only to receive an automated reply stating “The recipient’s e-mail address was not found in the recipient’s e-mail system.”

I tracked down the correct e-mail address, resent the email, but pointed out the incorrect e-mail on the letter. Birkenhead County Court have written to me in a letter received today apologising for the incorrect email address and have pointed out that both the email address and fax number for Birkenhead County Court have recently changed.

The letter also included a copy of the court order dated 9th October 2013 which is below. Interestingly this court order shows that District Judge Peake struck out the schedule of allegations filed by letter dated 26^th September 2013 as it didn’t comply with the court’s directive of the 12th September 2013 that it should be reduced to no more than 12 individual allegations. Unusually this was a court order made without a hearing and without service on the other party.

Birkenhead County Court order Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New 9th October 2013

The invoice below shows that the allegations in a letter dated 26^th September 2013 struck out by the Judge were sent on the instructions of a solicitor working at Wirral Council to Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers.

Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 22nd November 2013 Page 1 of 2 £4210 115

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.

Why did residents endure 11 years of antisocial behaviour from the neighbour from "hell" before Wirral Council took legal action to try to have a tenant evicted?

Why did residents endure 11 years of antisocial behaviour from the neighbour from “hell” before Wirral Council took legal action to try to have a tenant evicted?

Earlier this year I blogged about a bunch of invoices for legal work paid by Wirral Council during the 2013/14 financial year.

3 pages of those invoices were for the professional fees of Mr Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers instructed by a solicitor working at Wirral Council called Ali Bayatti.

The case involved a landlord as the Claimant (Leasowe Community Homes) and a person called Danielle New as the defendant. Those details were blacked out on the pages of invoices supplied by Wirral Council, even though s.15 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 c.18 doesn’t allow Wirral Council to black out such details.

The Claimant (Leasowe Community Homes Ltd) had rented 81 Grant Road, Leasowe, Wirral, CH62 2RU to the tenant Danielle New for £88.44/week (which was paid by housing benefit) from the 29th April 2002.

Wirral Council were acting as the solicitors for Leasowe Community Homes Ltd. Wirral Council’s Ali Bayatti then instructed Mr Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers to deal with some of the matters in the case.

The case basically had two elements. One part was to ask the court’s for a possession order to evict Danielle New, the other part was in relation to anti-social behaviour.

There are a dozen court orders in this matter (and references to some more that I don’t have). However this case starts on the 12th August 2013 when a “Claim form for possession of property” (N5) was filed with the Birkenhead County Court (see below).

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Claim form for possession of property Page 1 of 2

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Claim form for possession of property Page 2 of 2

With the N5 Claim form was also attached the 4 page “Particulars of claim for possession (rented residential premises)” (form N119 see below).

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 1 of 4

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 2 of 4

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 3 of 4

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 4 of 4

Also attached was ten pages titled “Additional Particulars of Claim” (see below). These pages detail the reasons behind the case and make for interesting reading (although for the sensitive readers I will point out they contain bad language and accusations of racism)!

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 1 of 10 — Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 1 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 2 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 3 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 4 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 5 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 6 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 7 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 8 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 9 of 10

Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 10 of 10

Danielle New contested the allegations and there are many court orders from both Birkenhead County Court and Liverpool County Court in this matter (see below). The matter didn’t go to trial. Reference is made on one of the court orders to “a detailed assessment of the defendant’s publicly funded costs”, so presumably the defendant’s legal costs were paid for through legal aid. Court orders below are in reverse chronological order.