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Painsmith Solicitors Limited trading as Painsmith Solicitors, Director: Marveen Smith. Registered No. 07617210.
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Emma 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.
David 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 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.
Richard 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 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 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.
LEASE INTERPRETATION: WHAT DO COURTS AND TRIBUNALS LOOK AT?
We have over the past few months referred in our articles to the fact that the starting point for LVTs and Courts in leasehold disputes is the lease itself.
Often residential leases were drafted many years ago and are in a format which even to professionals can be difficult to assess but what are the steps that the Court and LVT go through to determine the terms?
Initially they will go through the document. For a long residential lease all of the terms must be in writing. Some terms will be very clear and easily interpreted. This will often be the case in respect of terms over payment of ground rent and insurance. Certainly for any lease which has changed hands over recent years it should be in a format covering all the major areas such as rent, insurance, service charge, repairs etc as conveyancing solicitors should be checking that the lease complies with Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) requirements. These requirements require these fundamental terms to be covered in a clear and satisfactory manner.
What is often more complicated is the extent of a clause. This can be particularly true of service charge clauses. Many of these clauses are written in a very general manner with some kind of “sweeping up” clause whose function is meant to be to cover everything not expressly stated. Be warned they do not always work!
The general principle is that clauses are given a meaning which a reasonable person would understand and words are given there ordinary meaning. Courts will not tie themselves in knots in carrying out an interpretation even if the natural meaning gives a strange result. If this is the case other remedies may be open to the parties such as rectification if they can fulfil the grounds. The Courts and LVT will not imply terms into an agreement and will expect all the terms to be present in the document relied upon.
If then a clause is still unclear and or could be interpreted in a number of ways generally it will be decided in a way most beneficial to the person not seeking to rely upon that clause. This is due to the fact that the burden of proof will be upon the person relying upon the clause to prove that meaning. It is for this reason that “sweeping up” clauses often do not achieve the desired effect.
Usually the terms are clear but it is vital that proper consideration is given to the terms. Anyone buying a lease (or a freehold) should understand what the rights and responsibilities under the lease are. Certainly as can be seen in the published LVT decisions often in service charges Freeholders and their Agents try and argue that it would be perverse to not allow them to recover management fees, accountancy fees etc and whilst a Panel may have sympathy if the lease does not cover this the hands of the LVT are bound.
Again early consideration of the contractual terms can prevent disputes and if in doubt parties would be well advised to take specialist advice to avoid costly Court or LVT cases.