Victoria is a Partner in the Housing & Regeneration team.
Experienced in advising social housing providers on contentious matters affecting the properties they own or occupy, including anti-social behaviour by tenants, guests and trespassers, the recovery of rent arrears, tenant claims of disrepair, tenant claims of unfair treatment under equality laws and contested and uncontested possession proceedings.
In addition, Victoria also provides advice on dealing with sensitive disputes involving tenants with mental health problems or who lack mental capacity. She also handles serious disputes where an injunction may be required or there are wider implications such as damage to a provider’s reputation.
Recent examples of how Victoria has supported clients include:
- securing injunctions accompanied by powers of arrest against six trespassing youths who were regularly vandalising the common parts of a high-rise building as well as disabling fire detection and containment features designed to keep residents’ safe;
- enabling a registered housing provider to recover a property which was abandoned by the tenant who was guilty of multiple acts of anti-social behaviour and operating a cannabis farm and had refused to agree to the voluntary surrender of their lease or return the keys; and
- successfully defending a specific disclosure application made by a tenant claiming £50,000 in damages over arrangements for the uncapping of their gas supply, and convincing the court award the housing provider their legal costs on the basis that the claim was without merit.