Social Housing Law & Practice Conference 2008

The unmissable annual conference for everyone involved in social housing law work. This year’s programme addresses all of the key areas of housing law and practice and includes all the latest developments. Conference chairman and lead speaker, Jan Luba QC, together with a panel of some of the country's most distinguished experts will guide you through the case law and best practice requirements. One of the highlights of the training year that you simply cannot afford to miss.

Find out about:

• Possession Claims – the latest law, practice and procedure

• Dysfunctional Families – effective management and enforcement

• Managing Social Housing Effectively – a best practice guide

• Housing Young Tenants – understanding the powers and duties

• Disabled Tenants – implementing the new responsibilities

Who should attend?

• Housing Managers in RSLs, Local Authorities, ALMOs, TMOs and other social housing providers
• Directors of Housing
• Housing Policy Staff
• Solicitors and Barristers working for Local Authorities and RSLs
• Housing Solicitors and Barristers in private practice

Comments from last year’s delegates

‘Excellent as always – a must for all
Social Landlord personnel’
RSL Lawyer

‘Excellent course – one which I will strongly recommend to colleagues’
Local Authority Housing Services Manager

‘Well worth the trip from Manchester –
I got a lot from this course’
RSL Housing Manager

‘Excellent – insightful and very,
very informative’

Local Authority Housing Manager

‘Informative and enjoyable day’
RSL Income and Performance Manager

London
Wednesday 21st May 2008
Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum
97 Cromwell Road
London SW7
Click for venue details
Click this link for directions

Fee
£295 + VAT for top quality training from some of the country’s leading experts.
 

SPECIAL THIRD AND SUBSEQUENT DELEGATE HALF PRICE OFFER (see booking form for details)

CPD: 5 hours 30 minutes

09.30–10.00
Registration
 

10.00–10.10
Chairman’s Introduction
Jan Luba QC
 

10.10–11.00
Possession Claims Update: Crucial Cases and Developments
Jan Luba QC

• The latest on recovering possession from introductory/demoted tenants

• Update on rent arrears possession claims against secure and assured tenants:
  protocols, Ground 8, orders and warrants

• Claiming possession for anti-social behaviour: a ‘hard line’ from the courts?

• Claiming possession on the less common grounds (e.g. under-occupation by secure successors, section 21 claims against starter tenants)

• Rights of Audience: a problem solved for the social housing sector?

• The continuing impact of the Disability Discrimination Act on possession claims

11.00–11.15
Refreshments
 

11.15–12.05
Dysfunctional Families and Social Housing: Management, Enforcement and Assistance
Gill Marshall, solicitor, Leeds City Council

• The tenant’s responsibility for family members

• Using legal tools to manage problem families in situ

• New parenting contracts and orders

• Family intervention projects

• The new F.I.T. tenancies

12.05–12.45
Housing Management Services Under the Spotlight: A Best Practice Guide
Graeme Bennett, Audit Commission Housing Inspectorate

• Our inspection approach & influences

• The Diversity ‘Key Line of Enquiry’

• The Tenancy Management KLOE

• Examples of best practice (and pitfalls to avoid)

• Tips to follow for a successful inspection

12.45–13.00
Questions and Answers
 

13.00–14.00
Lunch

14.00–14.50
Young Tenants: Duties, Powers and Responsibilities
John Gallagher, Shelter

• Rent issues

• Housing Benefit considerations

• Nuisance behaviour

• The role of mediation

• Working with Social Services

• 16 or 17 year old licensees

14.50–15.30
Disabled, Elderly and Vulnerable Tenants: Housing Management Issues in Sharp Focus
Catherine Casserley, Cloisters Chambers

• What does the Disability Discrimination Act require of housing providers?

• Who is ‘disabled’ for the purposes of the Act?

• Disability-related less favourable treatment: some examples from the cases

• The duty to make reasonable adjustments: how far must landlords go?

• Enforcement

• How landlords can avoid disability discrimination?

15.30–13.50
Refreshments
 

15.50–16.20
Drawing the Threads Together and Addressing the Problems
Speaker Panel

The panel discussion will bring together themes reviewed earlier in the Conference through the medium of a case study on the following scenario:

Mr and Mrs X are long term social housing tenants dependent on incapacity benefits and in rent arrears. Their teenage children have behaviour problems that the parents cannot cope with but which cause nuisance to neighbours. Local social services are unable to devote resources to the family.

16.20–16.35
Ask the Experts
Panel

16.35–17.05
Future Changes to Social Housing that You Need to Know About Now
Jan Luba QC

• Regulation of social housing: what change and when?

• Yet more ‘tools’ to tackle anti-social behaviour

• Changing the ‘Right to Buy’ (again!)

• What else will the Housing & Regeneration Bill 2008 offer in the social housing field

• Goodbye ‘tolerated trespassers’?

• What’s next from the courts?

17.05
Close of Conference

Jan Luba QC, (Chairman and lead speaker) Garden Court Chambers. Jan has been described in Chambers & Partners Directory as ‘the leading QC for housing related public law matters’
and as ‘a walking encyclopaedia of housing law’. He also enjoys a well deserved reputation as one of the country’s leading housing law trainers.

Gill Marshall, Section Head, Regulatory and Enforcement, Leeds City Council. Gill manages a specialist team which deals with prosecutions and anti-social behaviour. She has been involved in
the field of anti-social behaviour work for more than ten years.

Graeme Bennett, ALMO Co-ordinator for the Audit Commission’s Housing Inspectorate. Graeme was a housing manager in two south London boroughs before joining the Audit Commission as a Housing Inspector. Graeme was closely involved in developing the original Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) for housing management in 2004, and
in reviewing the Tenancy and Estate Management KLOE in 2006.

Catherine Casserley, Barrister, Cloisters Chambers, specialising in discrimination, with particular expertise in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Catherine was formerly Senior Legislation Adviser at the Disability Rights Commission. She was the lead drafter of the DRC’s Code of Practice addressing housing and the DDA.

John Gallagher Principal Solicitor with Shelter’s legal team has specialised in housing law for over 20 years. John is a member of the Housing and Land Committee of the Civil Justice Council. He also manages Shelter’s new Children’s Legal Services Department.