Section: Home Ownership

Case Law Update

Brittain v Haghighat [2009] EWHC (Ch), [2009] All ER (D) 31 (Jan)

A married couple owned a house in the husband's name and occupied it with their three children, the eldest of whom was very severely disabled.

The husband was made bankrupt with the house as his only asset of value - although its sale value would not cover all the debts. His trustee applied for an order for possession.

The High court held that the circumstances were "exceptional" for the purposes of Insolvency Act 1986 sections 336-2337 and granted a Possession Order - but deferred its operation for 3 years, to enable the wife and children to arrange to be rehoused by a local authority directly into accommodation meeting the special needs of the disabled child.

New Regulations

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

The Home Information Pack (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2008 SI 3107

These Regulations amend the Home Information Pack (No. 2) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/1667). Under sections 155 to 159 of the Housing Act 2004, a home information pack must comply with the principal Regulations.

The provisions contained in regulations 1 to 7 come into force on 1st January 2009 and the provisions contained in regulations 8 to 12 come into force on 6th April 2009.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 8 (required pack documents) of the principal Regulations, so that the leasehold documents previously referred to in regulation 8 are omitted and are no longer required pack documents.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 9 (authorised pack documents) of the principal Regulations to include leasehold documents set out in Schedule 5 of the principal Regulations as authorised pack documents. Schedule 5 (leasehold information) of the principal Regulations is amended by regulation 7 to include leasehold documents that may be authorised pack documents.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 16(1)(a) (energy information unobtainable before or at the first point of marketing); regulation 34(2)(a) (exception - first day marketing during a temporary period) and paragraph 4(a) of Schedule 6 (general provisions about searches and search reports - specified required search reports) of the principal Regulations to extend until 6th April 2009 the exemptions set out in those regulations.

Regulation 6 amends regulation 30 (exception for portfolios of properties) of the principal Regulations to omit the requirement that all properties sold as a portfolio of properties must be vacant.

Regulation 8 amends regulation 2 (interpretation - general provisions) of the principal Regulations by applying the meaning of new homes to additional provisions and inserting definitions for the "property information questionnaire". Regulation 9 amends regulation 8 of the principal Regulations to add a property information questionnaire (PIQ) as a required pack document. The PIQ must comply with either Schedule 11 or Schedule 12 of the principal Regulations, which are inserted by regulation 10 of these Regulations.

Regulation 11 amends regulation 13 of the principal Regulations requiring the PIQ to be the second document in the home information pack.

Regulation 12 amends regulation 14 of the principal Regulations to provide that PIQs must be included in home information packs for properties where the first point of marketing is on or after 6th April 2009.

The Home Information Pack (Amendment) Regulations 2009 S! 34

Regulation 3 amends regulation 14 of the principal Regulations by adding the property information questionnaire to the list of required documents that must be in the home information pack before or at the first point of marketing. The requirement to include a property information questionnaire in the home information pack was introduced in the Home Information Pack (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No 3107) and comes into force on 6th April 2009.

Section: Home Ownership

Case Law Update

New Regulations

Legal Update

Reporting on Nov 2008-Jan 2009

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