Moving the goalposts

DWP defends benefit reforms in court

The Department for Work and Pensions has vigorously defended its housing benefit reforms at the High Court.

Victorian values?

Meeting the minister

Is the housing sector political? When Rising Stars competition winner Carla Keegans spent a day shadowing housing minister Grant Shapps, she didn’t expect to be left questioning the purpose of her career.

Criminal conviction for illegally subletting tenant

A local authority has secured a criminal conviction against one its tenants after discovering the man was illegally subletting his home.

Shining stars

We reveal details of the winners of the 2011 UK Housing Awards

Get your Act together

With a host of legal acts coming into effect this year and next, Caroline Thorpe helps you to learn your lines so you can take to the housing stage with confidence

The mental health maze

Landlords seeking to evict tenants with mental disabilities must tread carefully, says Robert Wassall, head of the social housing sector group at Blake Lapthorn

Avoid a brush with the law

Should social landlords be responsible for keeping disabled tenants’ homes in good decorative order?

Battling fraud

New proposals to tackle sub-letting should include grounds for possession to bring stock back into use, says Colin Hammond, head of housing litigation at Penningtons Solicitors

Off the debt hook

Arrears are irrelevant to possession proceedings if they form part of a bankruptcy order, explains Helen Tucker, partner at Anthony Collins Solictiors