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News & Events

National Housing and Disrepair Forum – Annual Conference

17 November 2008

Birmingham City Council has been invited to host the Annual Conference of the Housing and Disrepair Forum this year.

Many of you will know the Annual Conference has historically focused solely on issues of disrepair; however, in the past two years the Conference has been broadened out to include other subjects of interest to Housing Lawyers and Practitioners, Surveyors and Environmental Health Officers.

With this in mind we have planned an exciting day commencing with Kerry Bretherton of Hardwicke Buildings, speaking on current housing law matters; including disrepair, and an analysis of the significant and recent case of Avril Lee v Birmingham City Council (2008) CWCA Civ 891.

We also thought it would be interesting to hear from a District Judge as to the perception of disrepair cases from the District Bench. Therefore, we have invited D.J. Jane George of the Birmingham C.J.C. to share her views and experiences of disrepair cases; including useful tips of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”!

In terms of Anti Social Behaviour, in Birmingham we have been using our civil powers under S222 of the Local Government Act 1972 to deal with problems in the community such as ‘guns and gangs’ and perpetrators of domestic violence. However, we were challenged on our use of this civil power, and the case was heard by the Master of the Rolls on 24 June 2008. We have invited Justin Bates of Arden Chambers, Junior Counsel in this Court of Appeal case, to talk at our conference.

In the afternoon we have invited a film maker and pod caster, Nick Booth, to come and enlighten and enthuse us with ideas of how to empower citizens. With the White Paper “Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power”, in mind, we think it is important that we all start thinking of different and better ways of reaching tenants and the wider community. This promises to be a fun session that is bound to challenge us and make us think differently!

Finally, we are going to end with an update on the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). This will be an interactive session, led by Professor David Ormandy of Warwick University which will hopefully lead to a debate about the pros and cons of the system and how it works in practice. If you have experiences of the Residential Property Tribunal do come along as we would like to hear of those experiences.

We are hoping we have tempted you. We have planned the day to deal with current issues of housing and disrepair issues which we hope will be of interest to you. The day is free and there are 5 CPD points awarded to attendees.

I have attached the flyer for the event. If you have a colleague that may be interested in this event please pass this on to them.

If you wish to attend please contact leonie.boyle@birmingham.gov.uk

Leonie Boyle
Temporary Secretary to Kate Priest
Birmingham City Council Legal and Democratic Services
Ingleby House, 11-14 Cannon Street,
Birmingham, B2 5EN
Tel: 0121 6753659

» Programme

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