Following the Event

Brent LBC v Aniedobe (Current Law Week 12 May)

The local authority obtained a possession order against the tenant on the ground that he was not occupying the premises leased to him as his home but he was subletting them. The tenant’s appeal was successful and a retrial was ordered On the retrial the judge found that the tenant was in fact occupying the property and that the local authority’s evidence to the contrary was unconvincing. However, he declined to make an order for costs, without giving any reason. The tenant appealed again and he succeeded again. His defence throughout had been that he did occupy the property and there was no reason to justify a departure from the normal rule that costs follow the cause. The judge should have given reasons for his departure.