Housing Management

Effective, efficient legal support for social housing providers

Our dedicated housing management team provides specialist legal services and practical advice to Registered Providers (RPs) and social landlords.

Our clients include housing associations, local authorities and arms-length management organisations (ALMOs). We do not act for individual tenants as this could result in potential conflicts of interest.

We help landlords with all aspects of housing management from succession planning and disrepair to tenancy enforcement, nuisance behaviour and criminal activity.

The team is led by Lindsay Felstead, a partner in the firm who qualified as a barrister in 2000 and was subsequently admitted as a solicitor. She is known for her wealth of relevant experience, friendly, approachable manner, straightforward advice and focus on results. Qualities she shares with her sought-after team who between them, have over a century of extensive, in-depth experience in all aspects of social housing.

How our Housing Management team can help

Our housing management team works closely with our property litigation solicitors and can advise on all aspects of tenancy management, including:

• Issues related to tenancy and shared ownership leases – such as breach, anti-social behaviour, sub-let, failed succession and trespass
• Nomination Agreements
• Residential possession proceedings
• Residential disrepair (s.11 LTA) and EPA prosecutions
• Housing Association (HA) policy, procedure and compliance
• Equality Act / public law advice
• Injunction proceedings against tenants, shared owners/leaseholders and non-tenants
• Review and drafting of policy, procedure and tenancy agreements

We also advise on PRS matters, including:

• Tenancies
• Exemptions
• Policies and procedures
• Selective licensing
• Income recovery
• Enforcement

Our extensive expertise in housing management

We work for clients all over the UK, providing legal advice and practical assistance, including a free housing and asset management helpline and bespoke training.

Here are a few examples of our recent achievements.

Injunctions

We have obtained hundreds of injunctions for our clients, such as access for gas or electrical inspections, exclusions, anti-social behaviour (ASB) and breach of tenancy.

Recently, a client asked us to apply for injunctions because two non-tenants were engaging in threatening and serious anti-social behaviour. Within 24 hours we had obtained interim injunction orders with power of arrest and exclusions from the area.

Possession

We have an outstanding record of securing possession orders relating to ASB breach of tenancy, fraud, property condition, hoarding, rent arrears, access issues and starter tenancies.

We represented the landlord in Akerman-Livingstone v Aster Communities Limited [2015] UKSC 15, the leading Supreme Court case on Equality Act defences to possession proceedings, which influenced how registered providers now prepare for litigation.

Policies and procedures

We can review or draft policies and procedures including: succession, ASB, allocations, decant, starter tenancies, fire safety and tenancy management. We recently worked with Resolve to deliver a best practice ASB policy and procedure guidance document that has been distributed nationally.

Disrepair

We have responded to the recent surge in disrepair claims by ensuring that we have several team members who can deal robustly with claims and counterclaims. We have defended clients against Environmental Protection Act prosecutions, and successfully struck out disrepair counterclaims and improved processes to reduce claims.

We have also represented clients facing interview under caution for prosecutions relating to fire safety matters.

Why choose Clarke Willmott for housing management

• Our exceptional partner-led team – Lindsay Felstead, partner and head of the housing management team is totally committed to our clients’ interests and provides clear, straightforward advice.
• Realistic, practical advice – thanks to our extensive experience in the field of housing management, we know you want pragmatic, risk-based solutions to situations that can be complex, sensitive or both. We understand the realities you face and get to the heart of the matter fast, explaining the options available to you in straightforward terms so you can make an informed decision.
• In-depth knowledge and experience – our first-class team includes solicitors who have worked in-house for large RPs and who used to represent tenants. This gives us a unique client’s-eye view of the problems faced by social housing providers and the services you need.
• Open, transparent charges – we believe in honesty and clarity in every aspect of our work, including our charges.

Our established reputation in housing management

Ranked in both Legal 500 and Chambers, we are well known as leaders in housing management, and our experience and expertise are much in demand.

“Lindsay Felstead … has a wealth of experience in antisocial behaviour injunctions and possession proceedings. One source says: ‘She is fantastic. She is very personable and is able to dissect the legal jargon in really clear terms’.” Chambers 2018

Lindsay Felstead and other members of the team host regular seminars and are often invited to speak at conferences and events. We are also members of the National Housing Federation, Chartered Institute of Housing, Community Housing Cymru, Women in Social Housing (WISH), Resolve ASB, and the Social Housing Law Association (SHLA).

Contact a housing management solicitor today

Contact our specialist team of housing management solicitors today. Call for a free initial consultation on 0800 652 8025 or get in touch online.