News, events and consultations
Housing and LASPO
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill enters report stage in the House of Lords from 5 March. Any further amendments to the bill in the Lords must happen at this stage. It is likely that the social welfare provisions, including housing, will be debated from Monday 5 March onwards.
There is one single housing related amendment tabled, although there are others addressing social welfare more broadly. The amendment is at 75-77 of the marshalled list of amendments. The proposed amendment was drafted by Shelter and supported by HLPA, as well as Citizens Advice, Justice for All, the Law Society, the Law Centres Federation, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, the Housing Law Practitioners Association, the Bar Council, the Advice Services Alliance and the Salvation Army.
As drafted, LASPO would mean that benefits work would be out of scope even when involved in defending possession proceedings, thus making a successful resolution of many rent arrears or mortgage possession cases virtually impossible.
This amendment would ensure that, where the loss of the home is threatened due to nonpayment of the rent or mortgage, advice and casework can be provided to address an underlying benefits problem causing or contributing to the arrears.
The full proposed amendment and briefing can be downloaded here.
If you are signed up to the Justice for All “pair up with a peer” scheme please write to them now to ask them to support the HB (and other) amendments. If you’re not with the scheme please contact Lib Dem or cross bench peers to explain why this amendment is so important- you can find out a list of the peers and their parties via this link (select search options as party and group – then search for
lib dem or crossbenchers):
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/lords/
Please send the Shelter briefing document with any communication with peers.
Court desk limited opening times from April 2012
As of April 2012, all Civil and Family Courts will be changing the opening times of the court desks. They will be open only between 11 am and 1 pm.
According to HMCTS:
Court users attending the public counter with routine work that does not require a face to face service provision will be directed to a “drop box” or to the secure court postbox. Work that is considered will fall into this category include:
- -Making a payment
- -Case specific enquiries
- -General enquiries
- -Lodging documents
- -Issuing money claims or other civil applications
- -Issuing divorce proceedings
- -Issuing public or private law proceedings
- -Issuing enforcement proceedings
- -Collecting forms / orders
HMCTS further state that
These arrangements will not affect the courts’ ability to deal throughout the working day with any matters which should be dealt with immediately e.g. injunction applications. We would encourage you to continue to contact the court via e-mail or fax to alert us to any urgent matters so that we can then make the appropriate arrangements.
Urgent applications are defined as an application or document which needs to be issued or seen by a member of the judiciary within 24 hours
It is not clear yet what the arrangments for urgent matters will be. We understand that courts are considering this on an individual basis.
HLPA is concerned by this move, which seems likely to have a particular impact on vulnerable tenants seeking to make urgent applications in person, for stay of eviction or for an injunction in unlawful eviction cases. HLPA members are urged to respond to any local consultations (for the London Region see below) and to seek clarification on arrangments for urgent matters from Court User groups.
As a further detail, Willesden County Court is dealing with urgent matters on an appointment only basis, so we are told people should phone or email for an appointment time, assuming that there are any available.
There is a consultation form for Court users in the London region. The letter and form can be downloaded here [doc]. The consultation ends 2 March 2012, so an urgent reponse needed.
Membership renewals and deadlines
The period for a 10% discount for renewing membership for 2012 has been extended to 29 February 2012. New members or those who are returning to HLPA and were not members in 2011 receive a further 10% discount, 20% overall, if joining before 29 February 2012.
The members password for the website will be changing at the end of February and the new password will be emailed to 2012 members shortly beforehand.
In what is going to be a challenging year, HLPA is working hard to provide members with information, support and training, and also to make HLPA’s voice heard in policy and funding decisions. We hope you can join us.
HLPA Seminars for 2012
We have a full programme of seminars for the next year. These are specialist training sessions by experienced practitioners ideal for those in the first few years after qualification or those looking to fill out their training in a specific topic. The seminars are open to all members and there is a fee.
The seminars take place in central London venues between 6 pm and 8 pm. Booking forms and further details will be circulated to members in advance of each seminar and will be available on the website. The following dates are subject to final confirmation.
29 Feb 2012:
Advocacy Training. Doughty Street Chambers
18 April 2012:
How to Defend Subletting Cases to Prevent A Possession Order – and a Criminal Record?
13 June 2012:
Homeless Cases – Has the Duty Been Discharged?
12 September 2012:
Tips and Tricks for dealing with the Housing Possession Duty Desk
19 October 2012:
How to Quantify Damages in Disrepair Cases
5 December 2012:
To set aside or the Appeal: That is the Question? – what to do when your client seeks advice after the order for possession has already been made.
2012 Meeting Programme
We have a full and exciting programme of meetings for 2012. The speakers are amongst the foremost and most experienced practitioners in their field and the topics address what is going to be a year of changes.
18 January: Localism Act: What Lies Ahead (Taken place)
21 March: Homeless Children And AGM. Meeting starts at 6.30 pm
16 May: Possession Claims: The Old and the New
18 July: Outside the Housing Acts: No Recourse and Community Care
19 September: Homelessness Update
21 November: Housing Law Update
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings will be at 7 pm at Portland Hall, University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW. £10 for members.
January 2012 Meeting
7 pm 18 January 2012
The Localism Act
Speakers:
David Smith: Anthony Gold Solicitors
David Watkinson: Garden Court Chambers
From 7 pm at Portland Hall, University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW
2012 Membership
It is time for HLPA memberships to be renewed for 2012.
We have a full programme of meetings for the year with expert speakers, details of which will be put up shortly. The next meeting is on 18 January 2012, examining the new provisions of the Localism Act.
HLPA will also be running a series of seminars for training in specifics of practice.
In addition, for those who could not make it to the 2011 conference, the speakers papers from the workshop session will soon be available on the members area of this site for a few months. The members’ password for this site will be changing at the end of January 2012 and members will be sent the new details
And of course, members get the reduced rate for the forthcoming 2012 Housing Law conference.
Those renewing their membership before 31 January will get a 10% discount on the usual membership rates.
New members and those returning to HLPA after more than a year will get a further 10% discount for applications submitted before 31 January 2010, making a 20% discount on the usual rates.
To apply for membership or to complete the forms for renewal, go to the Join HLPA page.
Allocation Code of Guidance consultation
The DCLG are consulting on a new draft Code of Guidance to Local Authorities on Allocation Policies.
The consultation can be found here.
The closing date is 30 March 2012.
HLPA will be making a response. Any views from members are welcome.
Nearly Legal has a comment on the draft Code here.
The Housing Law Conference 2011
Registration is now open for the Housing Law Conference 2011 via the following link:
www.profbriefings.co.uk/hlc2011
Highlights of the conference include keynote addresses from the following speakers:
Sir Stephen Sedley, recently retired from the Court of Appeal where he sat from 1999-2011 and well known for the important role he has played in the development of human rights law in England and Wales, as well as his long practice in the areas of public law and judicial review.
Andrew Arden QC, head of Arden Chambers and author and editor of many essential housing law texts.
Jan Luba QC of Garden Court Chambers offering his perspective on the problems and challenges that housing lawyers will confront in 2012.
The conference will also include seminars on:
· Funding housing cases
· Housing and the Equality Act 2010
· Calculating and negotiating quantum in disrepair cases
· Unlawful eviction
· Homelesness reviews: Procedure and suitability challenges
Further information is given in the flyer and the full programme will be circulated shortly. Please forward details to any colleagues who may be interested in attending.
A new mandatory power of possession for Anti-Social Behaviour
The DCLG Consultation on ‘A new mandatory power of possession for Anti-Social Behaviour’, including the new proposals to remove the locality condition added immediately after the riots, closes on 7 November 2011.
David Watkinson is preparing HLPA’s response, He has produced a summary to assist members in their own submissions. The summary also contains requests for further information from members. The summary can be downloaded here.
Please send any responses to the requests for information included in the summary to David Watkinson, davidw@gclaw.co.uk by 4/11/2011 or latest 7/11/2011.