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31 January 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8102 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 31 January 2025

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Tenant fees and s 21; illegal but okay; decree absolute online searches; debt relief challenge ruling.

TENANT FEES TRAP AVOIDED

While in breach of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (TFA 2019), a landlord may be paralysed from serving a s 21, Housing Act 1988 notice (they haven’t gone yet, folks) and any possession claim made on the strength of such a notice will be kicked out. But is there the same paralysis as a result of a payment required and made under an earlier tenancy for the premises between the same parties which was entered into before TFA 2019 came into force on 1 June 2019, but which would have been prohibited under TFA 2019? That was the issue in Switaj v McClenaghan [2024] EWCA Civ 1457, leapfrogged to the Court of Appeal because of its importance. The tenant’s primary argument was that the position was analogous with that in the much-hated Superstrike Ltd v Rodrigues [2013] EWCA Civ 669 on tenancy deposits, where the terms of the

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NEWS
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A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
NLJ this week: Online safety law at a crossroads
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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