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Painsmith Solicitors Limited trading as Painsmith Solicitors, Director: Marveen Smith. Registered No. 07617210.
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Alexandra RusuDavid Whitney is a solicitor and mediator. Prior to joining PainSmith five years ago he was a Partner in a West London practice. He has practised in the field of landlord and tenant law for about 20 years and has over the last 15 years developed a specialism in long residential leasehold work. His work encompasses dealing with all aspects of landlord and tenant including dilapidations claims, repossessions, enfranchisement, lease extensions, RTM applications and service charge disputes to name a few. In the past 12 months alone David has assisted over 200 hundred flat owners to either purchase their freehold or extend their lease. David understands the, often, competing interests of differing parties and prides himself on giving clients pragmatic and commercial advice. David also sits as a fee-paid Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) on the Southern Region and as a member of its mediation panel.
Laura SimpsonLaura graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2013 with a degree in Law with Business. This year, Laura also completed the Legal Practice Course.
Prior to joining PainSmith Solicitors, Laura worked for a local council. She has the experience and knowledge to confidently handle her own caseload across a range of property matters and uses her understanding of business to ensure that she produces practical commercial solutions to client’s problems.
Sian MeredithSian graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2015. Sian has an in-depth knowledge of possession proceedings and debt recovery.
Sian will commence her LPC in September 2016.
Emma SomersetEmma qualified as a solicitor in 2010 after completing her academic training at Bournemouth University and the University of Law, Guildford.
After undertaking her training contract at a large firm on the south coast she began her career with the same firm before accepting a position with PainSmith Solicitors in November 2012.
Emma specialises in all aspects of property litigation and can assist in resolving most disputes, regularly acting for landlords and land owners in connection with dilapidations disputes, forfeiture and possession claims, land registration disputes, building and boundary disputes, and recovery of arrears and other debts.
Emma is also able to draft up to date tenancy documentation, being fully conversant with all relevant requirements and guidance that applies to this heavily regulated and changing area. She has been praised for her ability to quickly understand her clients’ objectives and for offering commercial, pragmatic advice in a straightforward manner.
Richard PulfordRichard came to PainSmith in August 2011 as a Paralegal after graduating with a degree in law from the University of Sheffield. Whilst working for PainSmith he completed the Legal Practice Course at weekends completed a training contract at the firm and has been taken on by the firm as a fully qualified Solicitor. After receiving considerable training provided by PainSmith, Richard joined the legal helpline and has been one of the advisers on the helpline for over four years.
He has over five years of experience in Landlord and Tenant law and his normal work load ranges from case handling of possession matters, deposit disputes, drafting of tenancy agreements, advising on HMO properties and debt and disrepair claims. He is experienced in lengthy and complex litigation and settlement negotiations.
David WhitneyDavid Whitney is a solicitor and mediator. Prior to joining PainSmith five years ago he was a Partner in a West London practice. He has practised in the field of landlord and tenant law for about 20 years and has over the last 15 years developed a specialism in long residential leasehold work. His work encompasses dealing with all aspects of landlord and tenant including dilapidations claims, repossessions, enfranchisement, lease extensions, RTM applications and service charge disputes to name a few. In the past 12 months alone David has assisted over 200 hundred flat owners to either purchase their freehold or extend their lease. David understands the, often, competing interests of differing parties and prides himself on giving clients pragmatic and commercial advice. David also sits as a fee-paid Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) on the Southern Region and as a member of its mediation panel.
Marveen SmithMarveen Smith was one of the founders of PainSmith Solicitors in 2001 and has been the only Principal of PainSmith Solicitors a niche firm who are specialists in property law since 2006. Marveen has a background in accountancy and tax; forging a second career in law by qualifying as a Solicitor before starting her own practice. As well as working in her legal practice daily Marveen is one of the trainers for ARLA and other organisations presenting legal courses throughout the country; giving presentations at regional meetings for ARLA; and at seminars for landlords. Marveen has made regular appearances on Money Box for Radio 4 and Watchdog where she endeavoured to balance the one sided view of letting agents that can be presented by the media, as well as disseminating information to enable landlords to act in a more professional capacity. Marveen was the first person to establish a legal helpline for landlords and agents; and to offer both standard and bespoke documents designed specifically for the lettings industry. Today PainSmith offers a wide choice of legal documents to satisfy the requirements of both relocation companies, letting agents and landlords.
Appointment of a Manager instead of RTM
The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 introduced the new none fault Right to Manage legislation.
The idea was that if you had not less than 50% of the Qualifying Tenants interested they could form an RTM company and then take over the day to day management. This was seen as an alternative to enfranchisement or even a stepping stone to the same.
However as with enfranchisement whilst at first this can seem a good idea it is worth thinking about what in practice this will mean. In particular since RTMs involve leaseholders working together this is not always appropriate for reasons similar to those given in our earlier blog post on the Cons attached to enfranchisement. In particular you may all need to work together and make difficult decisions about the management of the building.
Sometimes the leaseholders find themselves in a position where they all agree that the current management of the building is not working. Often this can be down to neglect or actual mismanagement. Whilst there may be differing opinions as to the way to move forward it may be possible to use the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (“The Act”) to impose some control.
The starting point is for one or more leaseholders to serve a Notice (section 22 of the Act) upon the Landlord and any Managing Agent appointed. This should set out the defaults complained of and invite them to set out how they intend to remedy the same. A reasonable period must be allowed.
Once that has expired the Leaseholders can then apply to the LVT under section 24 of the Act for the appointment of the manager. It will be for the Leaseholders to propose a professional managing agent who is prepared to accept an instruction. Generally the LVT will issue Directions and these will require the proposed agent to confirm that they agree to being appointed and ask them to confirm the terms upon which they would be appointed, provide a CV and other information. There will also be Directions requiring the Leaseholders to file evidence of the breaches complained of and for the Landlord/Current agent to reply. We pause at this point to highlight that this is a fault based procedure and the LVT must be satisfied that there are breaches and it is just and convenient to make an order.
There will then be a hearing (note generally the LVT has no powers to deal with matters summarailly) and the LVT will hear evidence. Usually they will require the proposed manager to attend and give evidence so that the LVT is satisfied that they are a proper person and able to adequately manage. The Manager is an appointee of the LVT and will operate pursuant to the terms of their Order.
Once appointed it will then be for the Manager to manage. They must ensure compliance with all terms of the lease and of course statute and will normally be expected to manage in accordance with one of the recommended codes of good practice for management.
The manager should act independently to pursue his or her duties. This often can be useful as the obligation to make decisions etc as to the management will be down to the manager and not the Leaseholders (or Freeholder). This means that sometimes difficulties can arise and the Manager is unsure what to do. If the terms of the appointment under the Order appointing do not make clear they are entitled to make application to the LVT to seek further Directions.
As can be seen whilst RTM provides a useful tool for leaseholders it is not suitable for all circumstances particularly today in some blocks which have many absentee leaseholders. Appointment of a manager can ensure that a building is properly managed particularly when the leaseholders (or some) are satisfied that it is not being done properly but they themselves do not want to become involved in the management or cannot agree on exactly how the building should be managed.
As with all things relating to residential Landlord and Tenant we at PainSmith are happy to advise Landlords or Tenants about such applications or the options open to them.