Gill is a member of the Five Paper Property Team with over 20 years’ experience in the residential landlord and tenant sector.  Before joining the Bar, she worked at 10 Downing Street and maintains a keen interest in political policy making.

Clive is a Partner at Birketts LLP.  He is an extremely experienced housing management specialist with particular expertise in disrepair and leasehold litigation (including service charge disputes and consultation issues under s.20 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.  Clive deals with complex disrepair claims, and ASB cases involving Equality Act and/or proportionality defences. He advises on and handles EPA, disrepair and possession cases to trial and advises on Fire Safety compliance and resultant recovery of costs through the service charge account. Clive is renowned for his client care and technical ability, where he is known for being able to slice through complex legal issues and break them down in his advice to his clients.

David is a RICS chartered surveyor with over 17 years’ experience in the construction industry. David is the director and founder of HDH Property Consultants. He has significant expertise and experience in the affordable housing industry with a particular focus on housing disrepair claims. David is an expert in inspecting damp and condensation-related issues and is adept at using equipment to identify causes and detail remedies.

Aristide has a busy practice in social housing law, representing local authorities, housing associations and tenants. He advises and assists across the spectrum of social housing cases, including in possession proceedings, disrepair claims, anti-social behaviour injunctions (including committal proceedings for breaches of injunctions) and cases with Equality Act 2010 issues.

Helen is committed to expanding SHLA’s reach and promoting best practice. As a senior legal professional, she offers strong sector insight and is dedicated to helping the organisation grow and evolve to meet the needs of its members and wider audiences.

With over two decades of housing law experience, including work on landmark cases such as Salix v Mantato, Kirsty brings deep litigation expertise and a keen understanding of legal development in the sector.

Matthew has spent 20 years embedded in the sector, working alongside many of the country’s largest social landlords. His strong belief in the value of social housing and its contribution to society fuels his desire to be a national voice advocating for positive change.

Stephanie Smith is an experienced barrister specialising in Housing, Landlord and Tenant law including related Property and Local Government law. She has extensive experience of litigation including in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court and County Court and Property Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal around the country.  Stephanie has a broad advisory practice on complex cross-over housing/Local Government/property law matters with high value or risk. Author of several publications for Law Brief Publishing including ‘A Practical Guide to Succession to Social Housing Tenancies’.

Jenny is a barrister specialising in landlord and tenant, social housing, public law, real property, trusts of land and private client work, with particular expertise in the Equality Act 2010, disrepair and building safety.

Ranked as a leading individual, Jenny is highly regarded in the field of social housing, having worked in the sector since 2006. She is committed to excellent client care and gives realistic, practical advice at an early stage to ensure the best possible outcome. She offers an efficient, digital-based service.

Jenny’s clear-sighted and tenacious approach is welcomed by all her clients, ranging from private individuals to local authorities. She is a skilled negotiator who frequently assists clients to reach successful settlement. Her incisive legal analysis, rigorous preparation and robust advocacy lead to repeatedly excellent results at court. Jenny recently appeared in the Court of Appeal in Rowe v Haringey [2022] EWCA Civ 1370, [2022] 10 WLUK 270 and as sole counsel in Molloy v BPHA [2021] EWCA Civ 1035 where she successfully defended an appeal against the use of CCTV and committal for racist abuse.

An accomplished webinar/seminar speaker, Jenny regularly presents on upcoming legislation and topical issues. Recent seminars include Costs in Disrepair and Environmental Act Prosecutions, Domestic Violence in Social Housing and the Family Court, Anti-social Behaviour & Contempt of Court applications and the Building Safety Act 2022.

Jenny is the leader of Chambers’ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She was appointed as a part-time judge of the First Tier Tribunal, Property Chamber, in July 2024. Jenny is also a trained mediator.

Emily Hope is a Senior Associate in Clarke Willmott’s Housing Management team, advising social landlords on all aspects of housing management, including injunctions, possession claims, complex Equality Act matters, judicial reviews and disrepair. With over a decade of experience in the social housing sector, Emily combines technical expertise with a clear, practical and client‑focused approach, supported by a particular flair for advocacy. She leads on key training and thought‑leadership initiatives, is an active committee member of the Social Housing Law Association and currently serves as President of her local Law Society.

Nitika is a landlord biased specialist with 18 years PQE experience of dealing with all aspects of housing litigation. Nitika provides a strong leadership to a large housing team of around 35 fee earners that has exponentially grown both in turnover and headcount during the last few years. Majority of Nitika’s clients have worked with her for over 15 years. Nitika is valued by clients and stakeholders alike for her strategic vision and business acumen. She has proven experience of on-boarding new clients and is the CRM for client contracts. Nitika has been ranked as a “Leading Individual/Lawyer” in Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners directories for the last few years.

Douglas is a partner in Trowers & Hamlins LLP’s Property Litigation team.  He advises housing associations and local authorities in relation to all aspects of residential leasehold management and service charges, as well as the in-occupation aspects of building safety. He heads up the firm’s cross-departmental Building Safety Group and is a member of the British Property Federation’s Building Safety Steering Board and Residential Management Committee.  Douglas has a particular interest in law reform, having previously worked for the Law Commission on their housing law reform projects.

With 20 years’ experience of working within social housing and the fraud industry Laura leads the Housing Investigation Unit at the London Borough of Hillingdon, overseeing the council’s response to housing fraud. She has initiated proactive fraud prevention measures, including creating bespoke data-matching reports and participating in national initiatives. Laura is also a member of the LBFIG Exec committee and the Tenancy Fraud Forum committee.

Dambu is a litigator who has specialised in housing management since qualification.  She initially worked in London before going inhouse for a local authority in 2016.  In 2020, she joined Abri Group Limited (then Radian) as a Housing Solicitor. Dambu advises on all aspects of housing management, including anti-social behaviour, disrepair and general housing advice, including successions. She has an interest in the Equality Act 2010 and the role it plays in housing law.

Lee is a Partner at Devonshires and specialises in all aspects of housing management and property litigation. Among his client base are some of the largest providers of social housing in the United Kingdom. Lee also leads Devonshires’ dedicated Wales team. Lee’s specialisms are in complex dispute resolution and fire/building safety issues along with property litigation aspects to contentious construction disputes. Lee also has extensive experience in advising on non-contentious policy and procedure in addition to regulatory matters.

Giles Peaker is one of the most prominent housing solicitors in the UK. Giles advises and represents leaseholders and tenants on build defects, fire safety issues, leasehold disputes, repossession, disrepair claims, poor housing conditions, and homelessness. He was part of the team for Karen Buck MP’s private member’s bill that became the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, and is a co-author of Housing Conditions: Tenants’ Rights. Giles is a former Chair of the Housing Law Practitioners Association. He writes and edits the widely read Nearly Legal: Housing Law News and Comment website.

Imran works as an in-house solicitor and legal manager at L&Q, a prominent Housing Association managing over 100,000 homes across the UK. In his role, he advises on all aspects of complex housing management matters. His recent achievements include recovering £4.5 million for fire remediation works, advising on a multi-million-pound disrepair and breach of lease claim affecting nearly 300 properties, and designing a compensation matrix for a regeneration site with an estimated compensation value of around £11 million. Additionally, Imran has successfully defended numerous EPA prosecutions and disrepair claims.

Iris Ferber KC is a Housing and Employment Silk with 20 years’ experience in Social Housing litigation.  Her particular interest lies in disputes involving tenants with disabilities, and issues of capacity and the Equality Act – where she can deploy her extensive experience of Employment Tribunal discrimination claims.

Andy Lane’s practice focuses on social housing, local government, and public law, and he works primarily for local authorities and housing associations.

Helen Tucker is one of 4 partners leading our large housing management team in our Birmingham and Manchester offices and heads up the Birmingham based housing litigation team.

With over 30 years’ experience in social housing, Helen continues to provide specialist advice to social landlords as well as charities and housing co-operatives on all types of housing-related litigation and advice relating to tenants, licensees and leaseholders. This includes reviewing policies and procedures, delivering training and assisting landlords with managing unreasonable or serial complainers as well as regular county court advocacy and case management.

Ranked as a Band 1 social housing lawyer in Chambers legal directory for many years, Helen has also run numerous appeal cases on leading housing law issues.

A previous SHLA national committee member, Helen also sits as a Deputy District Judge in the Midlands’ circuit, appointed in 2021 and is a trustee of a small international childen’s charity.

Kuljit Bhogal KC is a leading barrister based at Cornerstone Barristers with particular specialism in local government, public law and judicial review, housing, and the Court of Protection.

In March 2023, she was appointed King’s Counsel. Kuljit is ranked by Chambers and Partners UK Bar Directory and the Legal 500 for Social Housing Law and Public Law.

In her public sector work, she acts predominantly for local authorities, housing associations and health bodies. In her private sector work, Kuljit acts for private landlords and developers. Her local authority experience goes back over 25 years and she is able to advise on the full range of local authority functions.

Kuljit has an excellent understanding of the pressures faced by public bodies and is well able to service their needs. She is able to provide policy and strategic advice at the most senior levels.

She has extensive experience in policy and governance issues as well as in relation to individual cases and contracts.

Her recent work has ranged from governance (and other) issues relating to Public Space Protection Orders, the use (or misuse) of Community Protection Notices, the contracting out of local authority functions (in particular, homelessness functions) and the legality of Part VI Allocation Schemes.

Kuljit is the author of Cornerstone on Anti-Social Behaviour (2^nd edition), the leading text on the powers introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, published by Bloomsbury Professional. Most recently, Kuljit authored an article for The Times about Safe Access Zones outside abortion clinics, after notably acting in the High Court case upholding the UK’s first abortion facility buffer zone.

Janine Green is an award winning specialist in community safety and anti-social behaviour (ASB).

Listed by the BBC in their Expert Women database, Janine is nationally recognised as a leading ASB and Community Safety practitioner.

Janine works with:

Social housing providers
Private landlords
Councils
Police
Government bodies
Charities

Dorota started her housing career at Birmingham City Council before moving into private practice. She is a Partner at Trowers and Hamlins LLP in Birmingham, where she advises on all aspects of housing management.

Katrina specialises in advising on a range of housing management matters including tenancy fraud, anti-social behaviour, disrepair, and access. Highly respected within the industry, Katrina has held a number of influential roles, including founding and chairing the Tenancy Fraud Forum, founding the Disrepair Focus Group, and was the Chair of the Law Society’s LGBT+ Division and the Independent Adjudicator for Grenfell. In 2016 she was honoured with the MBE to services to Social Housing.

Elizabeth is a member of the Property Team at Five Paper and a specialist in social housing and landlord & tenant law, ranked in both Chambers UK Bar and Legal 500 as a leading social housing barrister.

Elizabeth is sought after for her expertise in tenancy fraud and anti-social behaviour, disrepair claims, tenancies and allocation, homelessness, security of tenure, possession, and has a foundational knowledge of human rights and equality which pervade this area of law.

Elizabeth is known for the depth of her legal knowledge together with a high level of advocacy skill.

As the Co-Chair of the Social Housing Law Association, Elizabeth is advancing the interests of her clients, bringing their shared challenges before the courts and advancing them through other political routes. In 2023, she presented the difficulties of pre-action conduct in disrepair claims to the Court of Appeal in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil CBC [2023] EWCA Civ 1416, and has responded on behalf of members to the government consultation on abolishing s.21 Notices and no-fault evictions. She has assisted in the response to the government consultation on committal proceedings on behalf of SHLA members together with other members of the committee.