The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea v Amanullah Khan and The Wellcome Trust: ChD 13 Jun 2001

The authority had served notices on the second defendant, requiring him to execute works to bring a property up to a habitable condition. Eventually the authority executed the works themselves, and sought repayment from him of the costs. He resisted enforcement proceedings on the basis that claim was defeated by limitation, and the long delay.
Held: The Act provided that ‘the amount of any expenses and interest thereon due to a local authority . . . shall be a charge on the premises in respect of which the expenses were incurred’. The charge does not take effect until the demand becomes operative and time cannot therefore begin to run for the purposes of an action for possession until 21 days after service of the demand, and time does not begin to run until the demand is made. The appeal failed.

Mr Justice Lawrence Collins
[2001] EWHC Ch 411
Bailii
Housing Act 1985, Limitation Act 1980 15(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
CitedSwansea City Council v Glass CA 1992
The defendant had failed himself to repair his property, and the Local Authority carried out the work itself under the 1957 Act. It sought to recover the associated costs from the defendant, but he said that their claim was time barred, being more . .
CitedHornsey Local Board v Monarch Investment Building Society CA 1889
The local authority had incurred expense in paving a street. They were entitled to apportion those expenses amongst the owners of the properties fronting onto that street and summarily to recover from the respective owners the amounts so . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Limitation

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.135415