What is the legal meaning "as soon as practicable'?

Mokka

This is a question to all you legal eagles. An explanation would be greatly appreciated!
If you need a context to put it into this is with regards to Housing Act part V
section 128 (5)
Thanks in advance!

hazyjo

I think it's just a term, not a legal term. Just means 'as soon as you are practically able to' really. Or asap.

Don't have a copy of the housing act in front of me so can't really see it in that context.

Not sure if spelling out the obvious or if there's something you're not actually clear on.

Jx

DominicJ_2

As soon as practical means just that.
It means if your stood in front a judge, your reason for not having done something yet better not be "its cheaper next week"

A bit of back ground would help

spacey2012

More practical = Practice-able a assertion that something will be done as soon as those expected to do it can put it in to practice, thus avoiding unnecessary or undue delays .

Mokka

Thanks everyone for their input. I thought it had a more specific legal meaning. Can a Local Authority argue that due to shortage of staff, taking 5 months to do something is, in their case, 'as soon as practicable'?
I am going to lodge a complaint about delaying my application. Is 1 calendar month generous enough?

System

I don't see why not. If they do not have the staff then is is not practicable or possible to do the work

Yorkie1

Impossible to answer whether 5 months would be deemed 'as soon as practicable' on such scant information about what the "something" is. And even if you gave detailed information about what the "something" is, we don't have any information about what is involved in dealing with it - what resources, third parties, legal duties, etc.

Which Housing Act, for starters?

Thrugelmir

Mokka wrote: »

I thought it had a more specific legal meaning.

A judge would apply reasonableness to the context in which the term was applied. "As soon as" implies an unspecified period of time.

Mokka

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Impossible to answer whether 5 months would be deemed 'as soon as practicable' on such scant information about what the "something" is. And even if you gave detailed information about what the "something" is, we don't have any information about what is involved in dealing with it - what resources, third parties, legal duties, etc.

Which Housing Act, for starters?

Housing Act 1985 Part V Section 128
There are quite strict and precise time limits for serving Section 124 and 125 notices (4 weeks and 12 weeks respectively) but with regards to serving Section 128 notice it only says 'as soon as practicable. Which my council unfortunately interprest as 'as long as we please' and told me it will be months rather than weeks. I have the right to serve Notice of Delay on them which I intend to do. The question is when- I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. On the other hand I am keen on minimising the delay.

The forms are short and very straightforward- would take max. 10 min to complete. They have the template to input my address and other info and do very simple maths. No third parties, lawyers or even much thinking required, simple cut and paste job.

System

Sect 128 isn't just a simple case of writing a notice. There appear to be conditions and processes that need to be met/completed before it gets to serving the notice. To muddy the water there are 2 different notices that need to be served 'as soon as practicable' and possibly one needs to be done before the other.

The forms may be short but do you know the underlying work that the council may need to do before issuing the notice and also as there is no time dependency on this then external influences such as manpower, workload etc become the driving factor in setting priorities for work to be done.

Mokka

!!!!!! wrote: »

Sect 128 isn't just a simple case of writing a notice. There appear to be conditions and processes that need to be met/completed before it gets to serving the notice. To muddy the water there are 2 different notices that need to be served 'as soon as practicable' and possibly one needs to be done before the other.

The forms may be short but do you know the underlying work that the council may need to do before issuing the notice and also as there is no time dependency on this then external influences such as manpower, workload etc become the driving factor in setting priorities for work to be done.

Thanks for you input !!!!!!, but as I have already received their notices I know that they are short. All the background work had to be done before (and within a generous time limit of 12 weeks) At this stage they have to serve only one outstanding notice. To quote the exact wording of the Housing Act:
(7) As soon as practicable after such a determination or re-determination has been made, the landlord must serve on the tenant a determination effect notice.
(8)A determination effect notice is a notice stating—
(a)the effect of the further determination or (as the case may be) re-determination; and
(b)the matters mentioned in section 125(2) and (3).

They've told me on the phone that they will not be appealing against the decision of the District Valuer, so there is absolutely no background work to be done. (If they were looking to appeal, that would involve legal work, but they clearly realise it would be a waste of time and money, as there are very strict conditions for qualifying for an appeal).

They have to take the valuation figure by the District Valuer, calculate the percentage of the discount and add all the info from Section 125 Notice (which they are not allowed to change at this stage).
That's a 10 minute job max. And this includes putting it in the post bag.