HLA win at High Court – Homes for Haringey criticised by High Court judge

Yesterday the HLA took a big step forward in their battle against Homes for Haringey over leaseholders' recognition rights. Mr Justice Fraser, sitting in the Administrative Division of the High Court gave HLA permission for a full Judicial Review against Homes for Haringey on both grounds they had advanced namely that

1. the consultation to abolish all recognition for umbrella groups was flawed, therefore so was the decision to abolish; and
2. Homes for Haringey did not have a valid management agreement in place at the time of taking their decision on 10th May 2016.

Mr Justice Fraser said that it was arguable, on the evidence before him,  that the Board of Homes for Haringey had been misled over the question of how many residents had been consulted on the specific point of removing borough-wide recognition.

He also ruled that it was arguable, on the evidence before him, that Homes for Haringey did not have the right just to roll over their old management agreement when it expired on 31st March 2016 (by virtue of mutually agreeing to waive the proper extension formalities). He said that the regulator's approval might have been required but it had not been sought. He found the papers presented to him by Homes for Haringey on the point about the roll over of the management agreement to be in an 'unsatisfactory state'.

Haringey Council are now to be joined into the Judicial Review as an interested party. The full Judicial review hearing is scheduled for either June 2017 or July 2017. Homes for Haringey’s legal costs are currently over £50,000 (fifty thousand pounds). The decision by Homes for Haringey to abolish all recognition for umbrella groups was made to save £6,000 (six thousand pounds) per annum.

Lloyd Grandson, Chair of HLA, commented "It's ridiculous that Homes for Haringey should have already run up costs of £50,000 fighting over a measure that was supposed to have saved just £6,000 a year. Goodness knows how much this is all going to cost if we have to fight it through to the end. It's time for this nonsense to end here and now and for Homes for Haringey to make proper arrangements for the inclusion of a representative leaseholder group. The HLA have been asking for talks since September last year - seriously what is their problem?"

HLA were represented by Riz Majid (Solicitor) of Neumans LLP and Chris Buttler (barrister) of Matrix Chambers.