Home office: Southampton
Lauren acts for social landlords in a wide range of landlord and tenant litigation, and provides advice on all aspects of housing management.
Lauren is a Chartered Legal Executive in the Housing Management team based in Southampton. Lauren qualified in 2020, after previously joining the Housing Management Team as a paralegal in 2016.
Lauren prides herself on being approachable and personable to clients, and is passionate about ensuring that clients are well equipped to achieve their desired outcome and therefore provides practical advise in a concise and accessible manner.
How Lauren can help you
Lauren deals with all housing management related matters, including progressing injunction applications for anti-social behaviour, applications for committal, and a wide range of possession claims, including anti-social behaviour, unlawful occupiers, failed succession, breach of tenancy and sub-letting.
Experience
- Recently obtained an Injunction Order against “Persons Unknown” for a block of flats where a number of visitors were sleeping in the communal stairwells and using this as a hotspot to sell and take drugs. The Injunction Order excluded these visitors from the block, and was supported by a Power of Arrest.
- Obtained a Global Substitution Order in the High Court for a Registered Provider of Social Housing who had changed their name, but 315 cases were currently issued in the County Court in the former name and therefore needed to be changed before any orders could be made.
- During lengthy contempt of court proceedings, where the Defendant had been arrested on at least eight occasions for breaching the Injunction Order, proposed a settlement that the client would not seek a custodial sentence if the Defendant agreed to terminate her tenancy agreement. This offer was accepted and therefore saved the client the time and costs of seeking a possession order, which at the time was not possible as possession proceedings were currently stayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Articles by Lauren and her team
Property litigation
Ban on leasehold houses
As anticipated, the proposed ban on leasehold houses was a late addition to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (‘the Bill’).
Read more on Ban on leasehold houses
Planning & the environment
Biodiversity Net Gain – requirements for developers have now become law
From 12th February 2024 mandatory biodiversity net gain requirements, part of the Environment Act 2021, became effective meaning that developers must ensure a minimum 10% net gain in biodiversity
Read more on Biodiversity Net Gain – requirements for developers have now become law
Social housing
Case law update – Courts pivot to mandatory dispute resolution
On 29 November 2023, the Court of Appeal handed down judgement in the matter of Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 confirming that the court can stay claims and compel parties to engage in alternative dispute resolution.
Read more on Case law update – Courts pivot to mandatory dispute resolution
Property litigation
Recoverability of litigation costs via service charge provisions: Can landlords litigate at lessees’ expense?
The Court of Appeal decision for the above case provides further guidance on whether legal and professional costs can be recovered through a service charge.
Read more on Recoverability of litigation costs via service charge provisions: Can landlords litigate at lessees’ expense?