In the second in Croftons Solicitors’ new series of ‘a week in the life of’ different specialist social housing lawyers and the work they do, we introduce you to Christine Land for a glimpse behind the scenes in a typical week at work.

Social Housing e-news readers tell us they enjoyed our Croftons ReVEALED series so we hope this new series of light hearted articles prove as interesting and, of course, informative!

Social housing trainee lawyer Christine Land admits she’s a bit of a ‘dark horse’.  Fluent in French (with a dual law degree from Kings College London and the Sorbonne), double prize-winner at The College of Law in 2012, and amateur salsa dancer, Christine is one of Croftons’ 14-strong and ever-growing social housing team providing legal services to Registered Providers and local authorities.

Monday:   I start the week by drafting witness statements for a Registered Provider client under the direction of Melanie Dirom, Croftons’ Head of Housing Management.  Melanie was recruited last autumn to start this new team within Croftons and I am her final seat trainee.  It’s an exciting time working with her as she builds this practice and I enjoy the excitement and feel that I am contributing to the firm’s growth.  Today’s witness statements relate to an anti-social behaviour matter where the Registered Provider is taking action against a vulnerable tenant.  So it’s a sensitive situation but the tenant has been setting fire to her property on a number of occasions and is a danger to herself and her neighbours.

A quick bite of lunch at my desk and then I’m off to Manchester County Court with Melanie Dirom on a Gas Injunctions case.  Our client, another Registered Provider, needs to obtain access to a dozen properties to undertake repairs to gas provision in people’s homes.

This evening, surprise surprise, it is a salsa night.  A good workout starts the week off well – but don’t worry, I’m not a total fitness freak and you will see the workouts deteriorate as the week progresses!

Tuesday: Today starts with a change of priority as I am asked to accompany Melanie to Liverpool County Court on an urgent breach of an Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction.  The individual had been arrested last evening and Melanie’s role is to represent the Registered Provider in prosecuting the defendant who has been arrested.  It’s a full morning in Court between travel, waiting time and the hearing itself. I love the ‘buzz’ and pace of work like this and helping Melanie negotiate with defendants’ counsel to achieve the right outcome for both the Registered Provider and the individual concerned.  The outcome in today’s case is that the defendant has been remanded in custody for 7 days.

Melanie and I grab a sandwich while we travel from Court to a Registered Provider client’s offices where we are running a surgery for housing officers during the afternoon.  While travelling, I ring the office and check my emails on Thursday evening’s Manchester Student Awards – I’m the “Tsarina” of the Women in Property student awards project (not quite sure where the title came from; it’s been quite a ‘talking piece’!!).

In this afternoon’s surgery in Wigan, we deal with a range of queries from housing officers, including questions on mandatory possession, Human Rights challenges, the Bedroom Tax, and offer some thoughts on the new Anti-Social Behaviour legislation which is likely to come into effect.

My last ‘health conscious’ evening until the weekend  – tonight a swim and yoga.

Wednesday: Tomorrow is the final of the Manchester Student Awards so I start the day by finalising the numbers so we can let the St James’ Club in Manchester know the details, and I run through the speakers, prizes and other logistics. This is the first really big event I have coordinated and one of our social housing partners, Lucy Worrall, is this year’s Vice Chairman of Women in Property NW – and will be taking over as Chair in February next year.  No pressure on me to do well, eh!

Today I am focused on a tender. Tendering has become ‘the norm’ in the legal sector, something I had never heard of when I set out to be a lawyer.   It’s a time-consuming and very competitive procurement process and one which Croftons takes very seriously. Our Business Development Director and Managing Partner are always heavily involved in tenders.  We aim to do our very best each time and, today, I have been asked to draft some case studies to include in a tender, as well as check that team CVs are up to date and relevant to this particular tender opportunity.  I have been asked by our BD Director to document “10 ways in which we add value to our clients”.  She briefed me by saying “imagine you are a client – the one we represented in Court or whose offices we visited for the surgeries – and consider how we have helped them from the perspective they have of us.”   It really is an interesting exercise, one I hadn’t thought about before.

This afternoon I turn my focus to employment issues in the housing sector.   I have a bit of a passion for people and the issues they face, which is why I have decided to focus on social housing because everything we do helps people in one way or another.  In this particular case, I am looking at a compromise agreement to help create an amicable outcome for the organisation and the individual.

No time for exercise tonight, it’s a final check on the Manchester Student Awards and a chat with my colleagues on the organising committee over a drink after work.   I have noticed ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen has just started at the Royal Exchange in Manchester so I intend to pop in and get tickets while in town.  Theatre is one of my interests and the Royal Exchange is great.

Thursday – The big day has arrived. I admit to a few ‘butterflies’ over this evening’s Student Awards but there’s no time for ‘fretting’ as the morning disappears in a haze of research on the Bedroom Tax!  We are working hard at Croftons to help clients consider whether they can reclassify properties to avoid unnecessary Bedroom Tax issues and, if so, what the implications of doing so are.  My job is to research everything I can on this and prepare an analysis and options for Melanie who will then present and discuss it with partners Arthur Chapman, Lucy Worrall and Richard Clarke.

I work through lunch today because of an early departure for the Student Awards and prepare a report for Melanie on a particular case which we are running for an RP client.  In this case, there have been a series of Anti-Social Behaviour injunctions and breaches and part of my job is to provide accurate management information for Melanie and the client on the status of the case and ensure costs are on track.

I leave at 4pm for the WiP Manchester Student Awards.

These awards are part of a national programme run by Women in Property; it’s been running for 7 years and the awards are open to second year female students studying a Built Environment course. We had over 25 applications for the North West awards and I liaised with the independent judges who included a surveyor and an architect.  They have been really impressed with the quality of nominations. The evening was a great success – check this out if you have a moment! http://www.womeninproperty.org.uk/student-awards.aspx     The awards have also given me the opportunity to coordinate a big project, work with people whom I don’t know as well as colleagues on the committee, liaise with judges, plan a venue and refreshments, and arrange some PR.  This has been a great new experience, even if it was a bit scary at times! The winner was Dawn Walker who was really emotional on the night which showed how much the award meant to her. Every one of the finalists also commented on how much they had gained from the awards process and how they can use it in their own development.

I’m really pleased it all went so well and the great feedback is terrific!

Friday:  Today I’m at The College of Law (now known as “The University of Law”) for the first in a 3-part advocacy skills course.  The programme includes a mock trial, examining evidence, cross-examining witnesses and various role plays.

At the end of a long and varied week, I meet some friends for a drink after work ….we must over whether to go to the French film but, on balance, decide that a ‘chilled out’ evening is what we want!  As for the weekend, maybe I’ll consider a short hike in the Peak District if the weather’s nice.

I hope you have enjoyed a peek into my week and find it is interesting and rewarding as I do working here as a final seat trainee social housing lawyer.

At our recent  “Toolkit” seminar for RPs where our focus was on commercial property, we presented our views on break clauses. Client feedback showed an appetite for this kind of seminar and our ongoing dialogue with the RP sector indicated that as commercial property was deemed in many cases to be “non-core” activity, a lot of opportunities for commercial advantage were frequently overlooked.

We explored break clauses from two angles:-

• Negotiating new leases – ensuring that break clause pre-conditions are genuinely and realistically capable of being met – highlighting some obvious (and numerous rather less obvious…..) traps to watch out for; and
• Exercising a break option in an existing lease – timing/compliance with conditions – how to avoid traps commonly laid by landlords to frustrate the exercise of a break option, and the associated financial pain.

Judging by the response to our seminar, and with follow up work and portfolio reviews which we have undertaken with RP clients, it is clear that the whole issue of break clause compliance and planning covers a multitude of frequently unobvious commercial advantages for RPs – but equally, serious potential risks which might not, by their nature, be listed upon an RP’s existing risk register.

The main thrust of our message to RP clients was that strict and timely compliance with break clause conditions can determine whether the exercise of the break clause is a commercial success or leaves the RP with an unwanted ongoing lease/financial liability.

If you would like to discuss the various opportunities/risks with break clauses within your own portfolios, and to ensure that you have done everything you can to avoid costly mistakes, then please email Bob Agnew at boba@croftons.co.uk who will be more than happy to assist.

Here at Croftons, we view our role as ensuring that your commercial property opportunities are maximised and your risks are minimised.  We also want to add value to your organisation by identifying ways for you to reduce costs or increase income – or both!

Under the government-lead policy, the lump sum received by communities would be paid by developers, as part of the Communities Infrastructure Levy (CIL), when planning permission is granted.  The policy revolves around the government’s innovation of neighbourhood plans, where residents and interest groups join village and parish councils to shape planning decisions in their area. The incentive for local communities to get involved in neighbourhood plans is that 25% of the CIL will be given to spend on infrastructure of their choosing.

The first trances of successful referendums were kicked off in March in Upper Eden, Cumbria. Since, approval of two further neighbourhood plans have followed; Thame in Oxfordshire and the St. James area of Exeter, have approved neighbourhood plans, prompting planning minister Nick Boles to hail the policy of giving residents more of a say over development as a success!

In Thame, residents voted for 775 new homes and new transport links, it was passed by 76% of voters on a 40% turn out. In Exeter, residents voted for a plan which has an emphasis on improving the landscape and street, which was passed by 92% of voters on a 21% turnout.

Mr Boles said “These plans make bringing about the right type of housing for their communities a key priority and show how engaged people will be if given the chance to be in the driving seat for delivering new homes. Three out of three plans have now been approved with neighbourhood planning powers proving to be a hit with people and a real draw for helping boost voter turnout.”

Despite Mr Boles’ optimism, David Marlow (chief executive of economic development consultancy “Third Life Economics”) has interesting views. Mr Marlow believes “the jury is still out on whether neighbourhood planning is effective in countering the prevailing concerns on political engagement and civic apathy….although most local residents are given opportunities to get involved take up is often modest and community activism is normally concentrated in no more than a few dozen individuals.

Mr Marlow’s comments seem to be accurately reflected in the reported turnout figures in both Thame and Exeter, therefore it will be interesting to watch how involved local residents become in transforming their areas, especially as the Communities and Local Government department have reported that more than 500 communities are making use of their new neighbourhood planning powers.

 
Cathy McFadden, Associate

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The keynote speakers were Senior Associate Solicitor Melanie Dirom who is Head of Housing Management at Croftons and Barrister Paul Burns, Head of Local Government and Social Housing at Exchange Chambers. Both speakers have an enviable reputation in the field of Social Housing and act for many Registered Providers.

The seminar covered an update on case law, its practical consequences and how to deal with Human Rights challenges when they arise. The advice from the speakers was that Registered Providers should not be fearful of applying for mandatory possession post-Pinnock though they should consider whether proportionality arguments could be raised and if so, tackle them head on.  Melanie Dirom said “if mandatory possession is a tool available to you, and its right in the circumstances, use it. Challenges may be brought but they can be defended”. Practical tips were also given in respect of ensuring policies and procedures are airtight to avoid challenge.

For further information on Housing Management please contact Melanie Dirom on 0161 827 7178 or email: melanied@croftons.co.uk

In 1979, upon election, the former prime minister introduced one of her best –known policies, the right to buy, which enabled council tenants to buy their homes at a discount whilst spreading Thatcher’s philosophy of home ownership.

The policy resulted in £17.6. billion-worth of council homes (1.34 million properties) being sold to tenants between 1979 and 1990. However, over the same period, Thatcher’s government oversaw only 496,120 council house completions across Britain. Under the rules, councils were prevented from reinvesting most of the proceeds of council house sales in new homes and after 1990, most local authorities were only allowed to spend 25% of such receipts on building houses.

Abi Davies, assistant director of policy and practice at the CIH acknowledges that right to buy was a publicly popular policy, but adds that many people subsequently lost out as a result of social homes not being replaced.

For Jonathan Glanz, cabinet member for housing at Conservative-led Westminster Council, although the former council homes passed to new ownership, it does not mean that the “benefits evaporated.” Glanz defended right to buy by pointing out that “the homes are still there even if the nature of ownership has changed.”

Many other supporters of right to buy believe the real legacy of the policy is the nature of the mixed communities it created.  Fabian Watkinson, a musician and resident of north London’s monument to the right to buy policy, Whittington estate, highlights that  “professionals live right alongside manual workers; black and white live on the same streets…right-to-buy has created a social mix” says Mr Watkinson.

Thatcher’s policies transformed the lives of many by giving council tenants the opportunity to get on the property ladder. An opportunity that did not exist before the 1980 Act, but also, its successor legislation, the Housing Act 1988 allowed housing associations to become more ambitious as it give the associations access to private finance.

In addition to the impact her policies had on the affordable housing sector, Margaret Thatcher left her mark on the private housing market by introduced assured short-term tenancies, which coupled with the deregulation of the banking sector allowed the buy-to-let market to boom, fuelling the growth of the private rented sector.

Whatever your view of Thatcher’s policies it cannot be argued that they have been transformative to housing and her legacy lives on.

Cathy McFadden, Associate

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Welcome to Croftons Solicitors’ new series of ‘a week in the life of’ different specialist social housing lawyers and the work they do.  Social Housing e-News readers tell us they enjoyed our Croftons ReVEALED series so we hope this new series of light hearted articles prove as interesting and, of course, informative!

Social housing lawyer and Croftons’ Business Development Partner, Lucy Worrall, is the first person to be shadowed for a week.  Lucy hails from Bury each day and is a hard working mum of an almost 3 year old daughter.

Monday:  My first jobs on a Monday morning tend to be calls and emails, after which I meet with James Beck (my paralegal) and others in my team for a catch up and to prioritise work for the week. James will be working on a right to buy lease today while I go out on a site visit.  Quick brew first, though, and my mid-morning energy boost (okay, blueberry muffin – not healthy, I know!).

Decked out in hard hat, Croftons’ hi viz jacket and steel-tipped boots, I arrive on a site being acquired by my client (a Registered Provider) from the local authority which, once built, would provide 65 homes – houses and flats, rent and shared ownership.  This is part of a larger regeneration project which includes demolition licences and site assembly work.  Once complete, the regeneration of the area will also see new housing, retail and medical, facilities.  This visit is for a site visit with the client to check the plans and spot any potential issues such as footpaths or incorrect boundaries.

A quick sandwich in the car on the way back to the office and in car check of emails and my final big piece of work for the day – a tender presentation to work on.

Tuesday: A new day and a new client to see in our offices for a ‘meet the team session’.  Following a competitive tender, Croftons has been appointed for two ‘lots’ of work on a Framework Agreement panel and this morning will be spent discussing the client’s day–to-day needs in detail, setting up the team structure and agreeing the first set of instructions.   Croftons will be providing property and regeneration, as well as housing management and tenancy services, over the next three years.  Following a quick sandwich at my desk, this afternoon I have two titles to check for another client, one of which has some interesting restrictions to pore over, and then meet with the client to advise them on their options to proceed with a scheme.

Wednesday: Today starts with preparing a report on title for a site acquisition due to complete in the next few weeks, followed by looking over a s104 Agreement and gas easement.

I have also been instructed by an RP client to review a 50-page commercial agreement which is extremely out of date and, rather than waste clients’ money with comment after comment, I have suggested drafted a new, 6-page agreement which will be fit for purpose for the next 5 years, so this is a priority for this afternoon.

The day ends with a Women in Property meeting. I’m half way through my first six months as Vice Chair of the North West Branch and we have an active group of property professionals from a cross-section of property related businesses on the branch committee. We have an active programme of events, including an Annual Dinner for 200 people in April at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, a seminar on social housing in May, and a new mentoring programme which is going down well.

Thursday: Today starts with the dreaded tender presentation to a selection panel for a Registered Provider. My colleagues Simon Leighton (Managing Partner), Melanie Dirom (Housing Management and Tenancy Enforcement) and Danielle Gatcliffe (Residential and Social Housing Conveyancing) accompany me.  We hope we have demonstrated the value which Croftons can add our affordability and our real enthusiasm for the sector as one of the largest dedicated social housing teams in the region. Fingers’ crossed! We’ll hear in the next couple of weeks.

Back in the office, its catching up on calls and emails and going through contract papers that have just come in.

Friday: With a bit of arm twisting, my mum looks after my daughter while I attend the judging meeting for the Women in Construction Awards.   It was just an amazing day!  The quality of the candidates, the variety of skills and personalities amongst the judges, and the inspirational stories behind each of the nominations all combined to make this a really memorable experience for me.  My fellow judges included architects, a development director and repairs team lead. Everyone had done their prep, we were like-minded in our approach, and we were all inspired by the remarkable applications we reviewed.

I left the judging session looking forward to seeing my fellow judges at the Women in Construction dinner  ….and of course to seeing ‘our’ winners receive their awards.  As for the experience, it was a real eye-opener to be on the judging side rather than the ‘pitching’ side and it has given me a whole new insight into how to present (and how not to present!) information in a way to make an impact.

The week has ended on a real high and I’m looking forward to a glass of something tonight … oh, but of course, my first job is to make a Peppa Pig birthday cake and organise tomorrow’ birthday party for my daughter’s big “3^rd”! .

The HCA has expressed concerns that the current framework is ‘insufficient to ensure it can protect social housing assets’ and has proposed several changes. These changes include a requirement for some high-risk landlords to draw up ‘living wills’ (a system based on Financial Services Authority regulations in the banking sector) which outline recovery plans to draw on in the event of failure, possible ‘ring-fencing’ provisions to stop ‘non-core activity’ threatening social housing assets and potential pay-back schemes for disposals of social housing stock on the open market.

The discussion paper is aimed mainly at ‘for-profit’ providers, who are deemed to be the most likely to put housing stock at risk, and suggests that non-social housing activity may be limited to a percentage of the providers turnover (2.5-5% has been suggested). The paper also explains that for-profit providers and organisations with ‘parents’ unregistered at the HCA will have to meet the new rules in full, whereas non-profit providers with registered parents can either comply with the rules or ‘explain’ why they are not complying.

The HCA is investigating two options to prevent for-profit providers from ‘asset-stripping’ by acquiring social housing assets and then selling them at market value. The first option would require these providers to recycle the proceeds of sale back into social housing whereas the second would see the ‘public benefit value’ (i.e. the difference between sale price and open market value) to be returned to the HCA.

The deadline for responses to the discussion paper, which can be found here, is 4 June 2013 and the HCA has explained that a detailed consultation will be carried out at a later date.

The shake-up to welfare benefits, which took effect from 1 April 2013, includes cuts to housing benefits to some social housing tenants with a spare room and alterations to council tax. Changes include :

• The introduction of a £26,000 cap on the amount of benefits a household can receive
• A cut to housing benefit for working-age social housing tenants whose property is deemed to be larger than they need
• Disability living allowance replaced by personal independence payment
• Working-age benefits and tax credits to rise by 1% – a below-inflation cap

Mr Osborne said: “For too long, we’ve had a system where people who did the right thing – who get up in the morning and work hard – felt penalised for it, while people who did the wrong thing got rewarded for it.

“That’s wrong. So this month we’re going to put things right.

“This month, around nine out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the changes we are making. This month we will make work pay.”

He said: “Now, those who defend the current benefit system are going to complain loudly. These vested interests always complain, with depressingly predictable outrage, about every change to a system which is failing.

“I want to take the argument to them. Because defending every line item of welfare spending isn’t credible in the current economic environment. Because defending benefits that trap people in poverty and penalise work is defending the indefensible.”

“There’s nothing ‘kind’ about parking people who could work on benefits. There’s nothing fair about a something-for-nothing culture.

“The pundits and politicians who are spending this week firing off letters to newspapers, or touring the television studios, are missing what people actually want.”

Meanwhile, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is being challenged to prove he can live on £53 a week after insisted “If I had to I would.” Over 200,000 people have signed a petition set up online.

Melanie Dirom, Senior Associate

Previously, tenants of Registered Providers had the right to refer complaints about housing to the Local Government Ombudsman but these will now be dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman who will continue to investigate complaints against Registered Providers as well.

If there is an overlap in the nature of the complaints to the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Authority Ombudsman, both will be able to conduct joint investigations and liaise with each other and early discussion between the two will be paramount to ensure complaints are dealt with quickly and swiftly.

The way that the Housing Ombudsman considers complaints is also changing. From 1 April 2013 the Housing Ombudsman can only consider complaints that have been referred by a ‘designated person’ (MP, councillor or recognised tenant panel), or by the tenant themselves if 8 weeks have passed from the completion of the landlords internal complaint process.

If you are facing an investigation from either the Housing or Local Authority Ombudsman and would like to discuss the matter, please contact Melanie Dirom on 0161 214 4810. Melanie specialises in all aspects of Housing Management and is Head of the Contentious Social Housing team at Croftons LLP.

Melanie Dirom, Senior Associate

Under the under-occupation penalty, or “bedroom tax”, housing benefit for social housing tenants will be cut if they are deemed to have spare rooms. The challenge has been brought by the ten applicants who, their lawyers say, are in danger of having their benefits reduced when the regulations come into force. The applicants are disabled and their lawyers say that, unless they move from their homes into smaller properties, they face rent arrears and being forced out. However, their disabilities mean that they need to occupy their current accommodation or housing of a similar size, and are being forced to move to alternative accommodation which will result in disadvantages they would not suffer if they were not disabled.

The applicants want the courts to rule that these new regulations are unlawful as they are “unjustly discriminate against housing benefits claimants who are disabled or caring for disabled family members”. They claim that the new regulations fail to take into account their circumstances contrary to Article 14 of The European Convention of Human Rights which protects against discrimination.

The government’s lawyers are arguing that the applications lack merit and should not be allowed to proceed.

However, official figures obtained by the National Housing Federation shows that the disabled will be disproportionally hit by the under-charge which has triggered this fresh wave of protest.

In other news, it has been revealed that Manchester and Salford will be the areas in the Country worst hit by bedroom tax. Some 50,000 people across the region will pay as much as £1,000 a year more rent when changes to housing benefit take effect on 1 April 2013.

The three worst hit constituencies in the Country are Manchester Central, Salford and Eccles and Blackley and Broughton. Manchester, Gorton is fifth. Manchester, Withington, Worsely and Eccles South, Wythenshawe and Sale East are also in the top 20, meaning 8 of the top 20 constituencies are in Manchester or Salford.

The government says that the move is intended to relieve the two million long housing list and make sure people are not better off on benefits. It says a £15 million fund will help the worst hit people in the North West however, critics say that it will push more hard off families into debt and that the government’s funds are no way near enough.

Also, it has been reported that with only two weeks before the law change, many people are worried as they have still not found a suitable new home.

The National Housing Federation says that those effected will include separated parents who share the care of their children and disabled people who have their homes especially adopted.

The figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimate that 50,055 people in Greater Manchester will be hit by the “bedroom tax” – including 31,532 disabled people. Housing experts have warned that in many areas there are simply not enough smaller affordable homes for people to move into. Daniel Klemm from the National Housing Federation says “many people will find themselves having to move into more expensive privately rented properties adding to the overall housing benefit bill.” A DWP spokeswoman said “we need to ensure better use of social housing when thousands of tenants are living in overcrowded homes and many are on long housing waiting lists”.

We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the controversial policy and once the High Court rules on this recent legal challenge we shall report to you.

Cathy McFadden, Associate

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