Sean Pettit
Practice Areas
Landlord and Tenant. All areas of the law pertaining to Private and Social Landlords and Tenants, including: Possession; Disrepair; Breach of Covenant; Nuisance; Unlawful Eviction; Quiet Enjoyment; Rent Assessment; Service Charges; Environmental Protection Act; Mobile Homes.
Local Government Housing and Homelessness, including: Secure and Introductory tenancies; Homelessness; Community Care; Welfare Benefits.
Public Law, including: Human Rights and EC law, particularly in the context of Housing and Homelessness.
Real Property, including: Rights of Way; Trespass; Nuisance; Trusts of Land.
Employment, including: Unfair Dismissal; Discrimination; Equal pay.
General Civil Law, including: personal and industrial injuries; consumer contract.
He is trained in direct access.
Notable Cases
Karolina Jurkowska v HLMAD Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 231 (CA). The Employment Appeal Tribunal's exercise of the power to extend the prescribed time limit for serving notice of appeal.
Leon Denton v Southwark London Borough Council [2007] EWCA Civ 623 (CA). Whether it was reasonable for a homeless person to continue to occupy accommodation the family home.
Rikha Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2005] 1 WLR 2103 (CA) Homelessness. Where an application for housing assistance under the Housing Act 1996 Part VII was not "identical" to, or based on "exactly the same facts" as its predecessor application, the local authority was required to treat the second application as a valid application.
R (Bashir Bantamagbari) v London Borough of Westminster [2003] EWHC] 1350 (Admin) Homelessness. A council had acted unlawfully in refusing to accept a reference from another council, under s.198 Housing Act 1996, to house a homeless person as that person was correctly found to be unintentionally homeless.
London Borough of Newham v Anwar Ali (27/11/03) LAG . Possession. The Housing Act provides a complete code for possession and the part of the code which deals with overcrowding is Ground 9.
R (B) v London Borough of Southwark (No2) (Admin 22/10/2003) LAG Local Government, Human Rights. The Local Authority agreed to pay £3,000 in respect of damages claimed for misfeasance and/or breach of the Claimant's Human Rights.
R (B) v London Borough of Southwark. (The Times 30/7/03) Homelessness. A prison cell was not accommodation within the meaning of s.175 Housing Act 1996. Therefore a prisoner eligible for release who had no other accommodation was homeless within the definition in the Act
London Borough of Wandsworth v Victor Bankole (Wandsworth CC 17/3/2003) LAG . Possession. A joint tenant's Notice to Quit was insufficiently clear, notwithstanding a 'saving' clause and, therefore, did not terminate the tenancy.
London Borough of Lambeth v Delroy Stewart (2002) HLR 747 (CA) . Homelessness. A term of imprisonment did not break the chain of causation.
Monarch Insurance Ltd v Customs and Excise Commissioners. (1999) Input tax relief in respect of motor cars.
Qualifications
BA (Hons) LSE
Professional Associations
Housing Law Practitioners Association
Training and Teaching
Law Society Accredited training course provider in Housing and Employment.
Former Part-time teacher, London School of Economics: Land Law, Equity and Trusts.
