I have recently learned of a new case law service, called the Case Law Digest. It is provided by Destin Solutions and authored by the well known and respected housing expert Jan Luba QC, so you can be sure that it is accurate.
Destin specialise in providing services to Local Authorities, and the service is aimed mostly at them, but it will also be useful for other advisors and solicitors.
The digest comes in the following separate modules so you can either subscribe to all of them or just pick the one or ones that you need. They are:
- Homelessness
- Allocations
- Social Housing Tenancies
- Private Sector Tenancies
- Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)
I have access to the Private Sector Tenancies module. It only goes back to decisions in 2009 as it is an updating service rather than a database of all case law. So the case reflects the cases which have been decided since the digest was started.
However it is recent case law that people most need to know. We can all look up the older cases in the text books. It is keeping up with the new ones which is so hard, and this service is brilliant for this.
What you get is an index in the left margin of the different case types, and then you can read the (short) summary report written by Jan in the right window. There is also a link to the full case report online where this is available, and you can search for new cases.
The modules are priced between £100 and £160 each plus VAT and there is a free trial on offer. There is also a special offer for Landlord Law Members which (if you are a member and logged in) you can read about here.
As there is a free trial it is worth giving it a go. A service authored by Jan Luba has to be good.
Speaking with my trainer hat on rather than my TRO one, I have trained literally thousands of housing staff since the late 1990s from Cornwall to Motherwell and what every office lacks is a way of keeping on top of case law, and any adviser knows that it is your abilities to keep abreast of changes that makes the difference. The usual way is thata 1 or 2 people in the office (housing law geeks like me) do the reseacrh and then tells everyone else.
I know this sounds like some advert blurb but this kind of service is sorely needed
Sweet & Maxwell (publishers of the Housing Law Reports and the Housing Encyclopedia) have been offering a similar (and cheaper!) service, called HousingView, for many years…
Or there is the free alternative…