Product Description

Housing Law: an adviser's handbook is a new LAG book aimed at lawyers and advisers either entering housing law or acting as non-specialist advisers. Covering all the basic aspects of housing law, this book focuses on the practical: the common problems faced by advisers, court proceedings and the tactics of running a case, challenging decisions, and seeking remedies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #166701 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 864 pages

Review
'A wonderfully lucid, comprehensive and practical introduction to the principles of housing law. This book clears a path through the thickets of case-law and legislation and enables the reader to identify the rights and responsibilities of all kinds of residential occupier. No lawyer or adviser should be without it.' --John Gallagher, Shelter Legal Services

About the Author
Diane Astin is a solicitor specialising in housing law, with many years experience in private practice and in the voluntary sector. She regularly trains and lectures in housing law, community care and asylum support for organisations including Legal Action Group, Shelter, Carers UK and the Refugee Council. Diane was previously a part time visiting lecturer at London Metropolitan University and was a member of the Law Society Housing Law Committee from 1997 to 2006.

Customer Reviews

The one-stop housing shop referencer
Recession or no recession, this is a book that has been desperately needed for a long time. Its publication by the Legal Action Group is a welcome development, especially in view of the current rampant rate of home repossessions.

Whether you are a practitioner, or an adviser, you'll come to regard this book as a very valuable and eventually, a very well thumbed reference indeed to go with the other works which LAG have published including the Housing Law Casebook.

Originally, as Astin points out, the aim of housing law was to help people get, improve and keep homes. Whether in the private or public sectors, the aim still prevails and is applicable to rented or purchased properties alike. Certainly the breadth and complexity of the changes that have been taking place in housing law, even during the past two decades, now require a depth as well as a breadth of knowledge on the part of advisers if they wish to reliably advise.

The practitioners must use community care law for the benefit of the client; must be familiar with the different types of occupation rights, the statutory rights of tenants and the different kinds of tenancy, plus a demonstrate a grasp of immigration law and the application to housing law of human rights.

A subject of such complexity and scope requires no less than several volumes, but, as Astin explained at the launch, she has endeavoured to give sufficient attention to those areas of housing law which, in her experience, the housing adviser will regularly encounter.

As a solicitor and specialist in housing law, Diane Astin knows whereof she speaks, as a trainer and lecturer in housing law, community care and asylum support for the Legal Action Group and a number of other leading organisations, including Shelter, Carers UK and the Refugee Council. She comes over as a person who really knows her subject and can put it across to both lay people and professionals- and I loved her cat on the mat by the green door!

The ethos of the book is heartening, being both practical and compassionate, and its scholarship is formidable. Covering all the basic aspects of housing law, it focuses on the common problems advisers must face, from court proceedings and the tactics of running a case, to challenging decisions and seeking remedies.

"Housing Law" comprehensively surveys all the major areas of housing law from occupiers' rights, to defending possession claims, to housing benefit, to challenging decisions by public bodies...and of course, much more.

Aptly sub-titled `an adviser's handbook', it fits in nicely with the other titles which LAG have published and it's ideal for those new to housing law as well as experienced practitioners who will welcome its clear and accessible approach to this diverse and complex subject- it is the on-stop housing shop referencer for all...thank you Diane.

A must for housing caseworkers
This book is an essential reference book for people working in the housing field whether as a solicitor or in housing advice. The book covers aspects such as definitions of various tenancies & tenant's security of tenure. Issues facing tenants like disrepair, sub-letting, assingment, succession and the all too common problem by unscrupulous private landlords in getting deposits back once the tenancy has ended.
There is an informative section on steps leading to possession hearings and defences tenants can use against harrassment & unlawful eviction from landlords. A handy section of housing benefit entitlement & who can access help with their rent & challenging HB decisions.
The section on homelessness applications is very informative for advising clients approaching their local authorites when making a homeless application. The information around homelessness applications & homeless test & decisions is interspersed with case law (as is the entire book), which is changing all the time.
I could go on & on about this book but essentially, no housing advisor should be without this book.