Hunt v Hussain

Mr and Mrs Hussain were husband and wife.  Mr Hussain was a freehold owner of premises and in May 2003, Mrs Hussain granted an assured shorthold tenancy to Mr Hunt a weekly rent of £90.  Shortly after the tenancy commenced, Mr Hunt lost his job and applied for housing benefit.  Mrs Hussain told Mr Hunt he had to leave.

Epsom and Ewell’s Environmental Health Department wrote in response to Mrs Hussain’s comments, warning her that she required a Court Order to evict Mr Hunt.  Despite this, Mr and Mrs Hussain proceeded to change the locks and refused to re-admit the tenant.

Mr Hunt suffered street homelessness for three months before securing alternative accommodation.  He stayed with friends on occasions but for most of the time he slept in a broken-down car or slept where he could in his sleeping bag. 

Aged 45, Mr Hunt suffered from bronchial asthma which worsened by living rough.  He developed depression and feelings of self-harm.  Some four years after the eviction, a psychiatrist determined that he was suffering from severe depression, agoraphobia and paranoid ideation.  In addition, it was difficult to predict whether he would become fit to work in the future. 

Experts concluded that the trauma of the eviction on someone with Mr Hunt’s background and personality had generated this radical deterioration in his mental health. 

The local authority prosecuted Mrs Hussain under Protection from Eviction Act 1977, Section 1.  She was fined £300 and ordered to pay costs of £250.  In civil proceedings in the County court, Judgment in default was entered against Mr and Mrs Hussain.

His Honour Judge Reid QC awarded damages totalling £56,678 as follows:

• The eviction – damages assessed at £120 per day over a period of 65 days.  The Judge was not willing to assess damages over the full period of 76 days that Mr Hunt was homeless on the ground that Mr and Mrs Hussain could had lawfully determined the tenancy by serving a Housing Act 1988 Section 21 Notice.
• Damages for personal injury assessed at £45,000.  The Judge was satisfied that Mr Hunt’s suffering fell into the most severe category of psychiatric damage, for which the guideline was between £35,000 and £74,000.  It was considered apparent that Mr Hunt was particularly vulnerable as a result of his unsettled background and the Judge was satisfied that he had a predisposition to mental health problems. .  Therefore, damages were therefore not assessed at the top end of the scale.
• Special damages were awarded in the sum of £100. 
• Interest of £3,453.
• The Judge granted a freezing injunction restraining Mr Hussain from dealing with the two properties in which he still retained a beneficial interest.

Ian Larkins
Solicitor Property Litigation team
Weightmans LLP
ian.larkins@weightmans.com

The key findings are:
· Investor confidence will be bolstered by the stabilisation of house prices
· Demand for rental property amongst tenants is rising faster than supply
· Rents are starting to stabilise
· Since the start of 2009, a greater proportion of landlords have bought rather than sold property
· Just two lenders currently account for 80 per cent of buy-to-let lending
· Arrears and possessions have been no higher in the buy-to-let sector than in the market as a whole
· Supply of mortgage finance will be unable to satisfy investor demand

The report forecasts that gross advances will remain flat this year, rising to £15.8 billion in 2012, £20.2 billion in 2013 and £25.6 billion in 2014. Council of Mortgage Lenders figures show that buy-to-let gross advances totalled £8.5 billion in 2009.

Nigel Terrington, (pictured) chief executive of The Paragon Group, comments on the report, “Buy-to-let lending hit its lowest level since 2001 last year and the market is dominated by just two lenders. Investor demand has never been the issue, it has always been mortgage finance supply, which has been severely restricted since the closure of the wholesale funding markets.

“There are a number of socio-economic and demographic factors that will drive demand for rented property in the future, such as inward migration, the rate of new household formation and the composition of those households, growing student numbers and a greater propensity to rent amongst young people. The private rented sector needs to expand to cater for these growing markets, yet it is being inhibited by the lack of available finance.”

As uncertainty from Landlords continues amid fears of an increase in the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) the Private Rented Sector continues to see unprecedented demand for rented accommodation writes Glenn Wright (associate partner) at Martins Residential Lettings (MRL). The number of available properties to rent in the South East has decreased over the last 24 months with landlords finding it hard to obtain finance and some existing Landlords reducing the size of their portfolios.

However with more lenders returning to the Buy To Let market and lending of up to 80% of loan to value available, property prices holding and rents increasing, property is once again proving a worthy vehicle for investment.

Rents are up by 15% year on year with the number of available properties down by 50%. For Landlords looking to expand their portfolios and for new landlords 2010 is proving to be a great year for property investment.

Whilst none of us know at this stage the plans that the new coalition have for CGT perhaps we should remember what Mr Cameron often said whilst on the campaign trail, those who did the ‘right thing’ had nothing to fear from the Tories. In other words the modest long-term savers, who invest in property with a view to supporting themselves, or helping out loved ones in their old age, would hope that the coalition see that by investing in property over the longer term, they are not only looking to provide themselves with a stable financial future but are also helping to check the social housing burden which has steadily increased since the introduction of right to buy in the early eighties.

There is an argument for those Investors looking for short term gains from property investment to be taxed in the same way as their income, but for those who plan for a stable financial future the re introduction of tapered relief may be a fairer system if an increase in CGT is to go ahead.

Lisa Bachelor guardian.co.uk writes

The boiler scrappage scheme is facing extensive delays

Thousands of householders who have applied for the government’s boiler scrappage scheme are facing long delays for the vouchers needed to give their installers the go ahead.

The scheme, which was launched about three weeks ago, is designed to cut carbon emissions and help people save money on energy bills by offering householders a £400 voucher to replace their old G-rated boiler with an A-rated one.

It has received such an enthusiastic response from consumers that the Energy Saving Trust, the organisation that administers the scheme, has admitted it is battling to clear a huge backlog of applications.

By the beginning of this week it had received 160,000 calls, and around 36,000 people had applied for one of the 125,000 available vouchers.

It has now doubled the number of staff in its call centre to cope with the demand.

“People applying now should expect to receive their vouchers within 10 days,” a spokesman said. “People who called earlier have not been forgotten about. The call centres are working their way through logged calls in chronological order.”

Fraser Winterbottom, chief operating officer at the Energy Savings Trust, this week told Radio 4’s You and Yours programme that the system had been changed so that applicants would now automatically be sent an email telling them the trust would contact them.

He said the organisation was “three or four days behind” on applications, but that this would soon revert to a “normal period”.

Applicants play waiting game

Ruth Thompson from Teddington, who contacted guardian.co.uk/money, is one of those still waiting for a response from the Energy Saving Trust.

“I spent three days trying to get through to them only to be greeted with a recorded message,” she said. “I finally succeeded a week later and was told I would be contacted ‘in 10 days’. That was more than 10 days ago and I am still waiting.”

Thompson, who is over 60, said many of her friends found themselves in the same position, and people posting on the MoneySavingExpert website appear to be suffering similar delays.

A comment from shirlgirl2004 said: “I read that the voucher would take 10 days to arrive and then I had an email [from the Energy Saving Trust] that told me 10 working days – but the truth is 10 working days has been and gone and I’m still waiting.”

Another poster known as “aah” claimed he had been told he would have his voucher in 20 working days. “They have not got a clue,” he wrote. “I guess in two months time I will still be using the old boiler.”

Thompson, meanwhile, also contacted Warm Front, a government scheme that operates a separate £300 boiler rebate scheme for those aged over 60. She did not qualify because her boiler was still working. A spokesman said the scheme currently has a six-month waiting list, and that it has seen an increase in calls since the boiler scrappage scheme was announced.

Thompson said: “It is very confusing that you have these different schemes running side by side and none of them seem to be operating properly.

“The general public has got very good intentions, but the companies are not prepared at the other end.”

British Gas, which is offering money off boilers on top of the government rebate, said that in the first three weeks of the year it had four times the number of customers asking for a quote than the same period last year, and six times the number received in the three weeks before the scheme launched.

Householders who have successfully received their voucher, however, could be set for further delays as the Energy Savings Trust will need to deal with them again further into the process. Those accepted for the scheme only get their money back by returning the voucher with an attached invoice to the Energy Saving Trust once the work has been done. Payment is then meant to be be issued within 25 working days of receipt.

Not everyone has welcomed the idea of a scrappage scheme. Plumber to the stars, Charlie Mullins, told Guardian Money last week that the scheme could prove to be “financial madness” as it could involve ripping out an inefficient but functioning boiler.

With this in mind we have recently been monitoring how landlords and tenants use our services and through extensive research it has become evident that most of our business is now conducted via our website,e mail or telephone rather than, customers, coming into our office premises they contact us via Rightmove, our website or by phone.

For 2010 we have decided to concentrate on increasing our brand awareness with a programme of advertising in the local area, on property search engines and through our board presence in the local area.

Through our research we have found that this will not impact on the levels of service that we are currently offering and in fact, feel that, the quality of service will be improved through the addition of extra telephone lines as well as the appointment of new members of staff in our central admin office based in Ashford. These initiatives will enable us to deal with your enquiries quicker and more efficiently.

In streamlining the business we will be able to continue to offer value for money.

Essentially nothing will change as our representatives will always be able to meet customers, Landlords and Tenants either at their properties, our Ashford Branch or locally. Senior members of staff have Blackberry Telephones meaning that they receive your e-mails no matter what time of day or night they are sent, enabling our staff to deal with issues promptly.

We offer our tenants a variety of payment methods including credit and Debit cards along with American Express. Tenants can set up a Standing Order for rent to be paid directly into ours or the Landlords account. Cash or cheques can also be paid into our account.

The organisation, which represents the UK’s letting agents, claimed the minister had failed to live up to promises to help the housing sector and that he had not included “any initiative that will make any difference”.

His decision not to extend the stamp duty holiday was highlighted as an example of this.

Ian Potter, operations manager at Arla, commented: “The chancellor is unfairly penalising those investing in buy-to-let portfolios, who have to pay stamp duty on the bulk price when individual buy-to-let investors pay a lower rate on the individual unit price.”

He stated that while the private rental sector is expected to bear the brunt of the shortage of housing in the country, measures to ensure good quality housing for people who need it were “severely lacking” from the Pre-Budget Report.

Earlier this month, an Early Day Motion was put forward by Lindsay Hoyle with the backing of a number of Labour MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Jon Cruddas.

This called on the government to extend the stamp duty holiday for properties worth less than £175,000.

According to a poll conducted by lettingsearch.co.uk sustained high demand throughout the festive season will push down the number of unlet properties and keep void periods at bay for landlords during the Christmas period this year, in contrast to 2008.

December and January are both traditionally subdued for the lettings market, but this year is an exception as people look to move before New Year when rents are widely anticipated to increase.

Potential homebuyers continue to exercise caution as the threat of a double dip in house prices remains. That, combined with a dearth of mortgages available at high loan to value ratios commonly used by first-time buyers, combine to push up demand for rental property.

Phil Calderbank, Director at lettingsearch.co.uk, said:

“All signs are pointing to high levels of market activity right up until Christmas itself, which is great source of seasonal cheer for lettings professionals, allowing them to cut down on void periods and in many cases achieve the best rents possible for their properties.

“Current tenants are looking to get a good deal on the rent while they can, as supply continues to shrink and rents look likely to continue on their upward path in the New Year. Buyers are also playing a waiting game, choosing the lettings market instead of sales, until mortgage lending improves.

“Such strong levels of demand at this stage in the year suggest that the lettings market is set for a year of sustained recovery and consolidation in 2010.”