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Both Tom Morris, appearing in Rakusen v Jepsen; and Alex Goodman and Kimberley Ziya in R (Day) v Shropshire have been successful in the Supreme Court today.
Rakusen v Jepsen and others [2023] UKSC 9
Rakusen v Jepsen and others is a critical test case for the private rented sector. The Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgment today (1 March 2023) holding that a rent repayment order cannot be obtained against a superior landlord.
The rent repayment order (“RRO”) was introduced by Parliament in the Housing Act 2004 to enable tenants and local housing authorities to recover payments of rent and housing benefit from the immediate landlord of occupiers of properties unlawfully let without an HMO licence or selective licence. Read more about the key issues arising in this case here and watch Tom Morris, Justin Bates and Charles Bishop discussing the case here (in under ten minutes) here.
R (on the application of Day) v Shropshire Council [2023] UKSC 8
Alex Goodman and Kimberley Ziya secured a win for the appellant in an Appeal which was allowed today (1 March 2023) by the Supreme Court in R (on the application of Day) v Shropshire Council. The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a resident who claimed a statutory trust created in 1926 gives residents rights of recreation over a piece of land even after Shrewsbury Town Council sold it to a developer.
Supreme Court Justices agreed with Dr Peter Day that Shrewsbury people’s rights over the land at Greenfields Recreation Ground were not extinguished by the sale of land and should have been considered by Shropshire Council before they granted planning permission for a housing development. As a result of the judgment, planning permission has now been quashed.
The ruling is of major importance to local authorities and their approach to selling off land that has been protected by means of a statutory trust. The Shrewsbury land was part of a plot secured for public recreation by a statutory trust in 1926 but Shrewsbury Town Council sold the land to a developer in 2017 without advertising or consulting with the public, which they were required to do. Following the sale, in 2018 Shropshire Council gave planning permission for 15 houses to be built by CSE Developments Ltd.
Read more about the case here and watch Alex Goodman and Kimberley Ziya discussing the case here.
