Housing Law Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Housing Law Assignment - Essay Example The procedure for evicting a Scottish secure tenant is provided in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Schedule 2 to the said act provides grounds on which court may order recovery of possession. The landlord has to satisfy the sheriff that you have failed to pay rent due and also that it is reasonable to evict you, considering various factors such as the amount of arrears, reason for arrears including unemployment, past history of tenant, duties of the local authority pursuant to orders of eviction with regard to social welfare legislation e.g. Children (Scotland) Act 1995. You can take the following lines of defence. (1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Your employment was interrupted because of ill health and also because you did not get permanent employment. That you were hospitalized is also a factor which will be considered in your favour. (2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   You are now receiving benefits from the government, and you pay your rents out of these. As per the observation in W oodspring DC v. Taylor [3], receipt of benefits by a tenant is a material factor to be considered while deciding the application for eviction. Similarly, in Angus Housing Association v. Fraser [4] it was held that the sheriff should consider the fact that arrears direct are being paid and rent is taken care of by housing benefit. (3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fact that you were sequestrated prior to the decree being passed against you means that it has not been considered by the sheriff. This is another important factor in your possible defence. (4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The landlord tenant relationship imposes duties on the landlord. The windows of your bedroom are badly fitting and your landlord has not carried out repairs even after seven months of his being informed. It is not clear from the instructions, but additional expenditure for heating due to the condensation may have led to arrears or a part of it. Also, you are entitled to withhold rent till the landlord ca rries out the repairs necessary. As per the observation in Mary Galloway -v- City of Glasgow Council [5], the landlord should have repaired the house within a reasonable period from the date of notice and if not then they would be in breach of express and implied obligations to repair the house. (5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Your landlord should have taken into account the fact that you are unemployed. Your limited income and ill health caused in all probability by the improper condition of the house are also considerable factors while deciding reasonability of eviction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to a government assessment, about 40% of cases bought to the court resulted in a decree for eviction being issued. Less than 23% of the total cases bought to the court resulted in eviction.[6] On the basis of facts as you narrate them, there is a good chance of avoiding eviction. You can also seek full unemployment benefit from the government, as well as benef its for families. You are entitled for benefits because your children are dependant on you. Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue department provides these benefits. It will take one year before some of your debts are automatically discharged. It will be of help to prepare a list of your creditors and see if you can defer payment to them until such time as you can get

My Ethical System and Its Justification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

My Ethical System and Its Justification - Essay Example Faith is good because it serves as an unseen yet strong force that compels me to reject evil and choose good. Prudence is good, because it helps me become wiser. Justice is good, because it brings harmony to society as it ensures fairness. When everything is fair, resentment and retaliation could hardly win, which results to peace and order, thus making people’s lives happy and contented. Compassion is good because it awakens our responsibility to care for others. An act that could also help others becomes better persons. The more this world has better persons, the better place this world will be. Humility is good because it frees me from guilt and makes me feel good. Self-control is good because it restrains me from my ill desires while realigns me to what I ought to be. Fortitude is good because it gives me the strength to stand for what is right, whatever the consequence. And hope is good because it keeps me does what is good even in darkest hours. ... My philosophy resembles that of Aristotle’s Nichomachean ethics, which belief is that man ought to live a virtuous life to achieve genuine happiness (Pakaluk 49). We similarly share this belief added to the fact that we both believe in the four cardinal virtues that define what is good. However, unlike Aristotle’s, I believe that added to the four cardinal virtues, which speaks for intellectual virtue, emotional virtue, volitional virtue, and social virtue, there is a need for spiritual virtue like faith – the strongest weapon man can hold onto. II. Justifying my ethical system My ethical system is grounded on my belief that man’s being – as being the master creation and the highest form of creation – must live a virtuous life. This is what differentiates man from animals; this is the way by which man can achieve the task to which his/her being rests – the steward of creation. In man lies the progress and doom of the world; in man lies the future of humanity. The world can only be a happy place to live in if man truly lives a virtuous life, because by living a virtuous life, as defined above, man is not only able to better his/her self, but is also giving others the opportunity to see the difference between good and evil. Thus they can have an enlightened choice. Moreover, it is only in living a virtuous life that man can bring harmony to society and to humanity, thereby achieving genuine happiness in life. It is no secret that what make life in this world miserable and what makes this world chaotic are man’s evil ways, as most are blinded with power, fame, material gratification and selfishness. Man’s evil ways is also dehumanizing – something that is against man’s