This is Housing Podcast: Episode 1 – "Intro: Know Your Rights!"

Date: January 16, 2024
Host: Richard Mahal (Duncan Lewis Housing Team)
Panel: Manjinder Kaur Atwell, Avais Pamwala, Daljit Singh Shinna, Rita Khan
Theme: Introducing the importance of housing law, busting myths, and empowering tenants and landlords to "know your rights".

Episode Overview

The inaugural episode of "This is Housing" brings housing law out of the courtroom and into the public conversation. Duncan Lewis’s housing law experts introduce themselves, reflect on their journeys into the field, and—most importantly—lay the foundation for why everyone, whether tenant or landlord, can benefit from knowing their rights and obligations. The episode covers the urgent relevance of housing law in the context of a growing housing crisis, funding challenges, and the evolving political and economic landscape impacting renters and property owners alike.

Meet the Panel (00:15–04:09)

• Richard Mahal (Host & Housing Solicitor): Opens the show and guides discussion.
• Avais Pamwala (Trainee Solicitor):
  • Handles homelessness, disrepair, and judicial reviews.
  • "I've been here for about three years now and I work in a variety of different areas in housing..." [01:04]
• Daljit Singh Shinna (Solicitor):
  • Works on homelessness, possession, disrepair from both tenant and landlord perspectives.
  • "We're here to help as many people as we can." [01:33]
• Rita Khan (Trainee Solicitor):
  • Experienced in homelessness, statutory reviews, disrepair, and discrimination/EHRC claims.
  • "I also enjoyed dealing with discrimination matters with the focus on the Equality Act 2010..." [02:00]
• Manjinder Kaur Atwell (Head of Housing Dept., Director):
  • Passionate advocate, practicing since 2011.
  • "I kind of fell into housing, to be honest. ...My passion was in housing law... dealing with possession claims, disrepair, unlawful evictions, homelessness..." [02:55]

Why Housing Law Matters (04:09–08:47)

Key Insight:
Housing law underpins daily life for all, not just legal professionals.

• Universal Relevance
  • "Everybody has a home, right? It's such an important, integral part of everyone's day to day life..." – Avais [04:44]
  • Many do not know how to enforce rights (e.g., repairs, homelessness help).
• Rising Significance amid Crisis
  • "I think people definitely underestimate the importance of housing law... it's becoming a more and more important area of practice because of the housing crisis." – Richard [05:38]
  • Rita acknowledges the impact of funding cuts and the complexity of law [06:03]
• Dual Perspectives
  • Daljit: It's about both tenants and landlords. Law covers possession, disrepair, habitability, and more.

Notable Quote:
"It's not sexy... it's not something people associate with a typical city firm, but as Avais and Rita property correctly said, it affects literally everyone..." – Daljit [07:19]

What Makes Housing Law Complex? (07:54–10:02)

• Housing law is a "hybrid" area—touches contract law, public law, and is underpinned by volumes of legislation.
• "It is...really a hybrid area of practice in a sense. You have to be a good generalist, I think, in order to understand, in order to be a good housing solicitor." – Richard [08:47]

Day-to-Day Legal Principles:

• Enforcing repairs and habitability
• Navigating landlord/tenant obligations
• Responding to possession (eviction) claims
• Homelessness support

Access to Justice: Funding and Legal Aid (10:02–13:46)

Issues Raised:

• Legal aid availability (means-tested, limited to eligible cases).
• Funding shortfalls: "Legal aid rates are not great... a lot of firms are not taking on this work." – Manjinder [10:02]
• Limited number of firms with legal aid contracts.
• Alternative funding: Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs), pro bono, signposting.

Key Quotes:

• "Not everybody is going to be eligible for legal aid. There is a criteria that needs to be satisfied with the legal aid agency." – Manjinder [11:53]
• "You have to approach a firm as solicitors that has a legal aid contract." – Richard [13:10]

Surge in Demand & Current Challenges (13:46–16:54)

Driving Factors:

1. COVID-19 pandemic—unprecedented eviction moratoriums, spike in unlawful evictions, backlog in possession cases.
2. Economic Slowdown—cost of living, job losses, more people at risk.
3. Regulatory Changes—proposals to abolish Section 21 (‘no fault’ eviction) processes affecting landlords’ decisions.

Memorable Points:

• "During COVID the whole possession cases...were stopped." – Manjinder [14:38]
• "Demand for [housing law] service has increased...there are fewer and fewer basically solicitors with capacity to take on new client matters." – Richard [13:46]

The Broader Landscape: Political & Economic Forces (16:54–20:42)

• Everything from interest rate hikes to housing policy to winter weather impacts disrepair claims and possession proceedings.
• Private rental sector now a huge part of the market, especially for young people in London.
• Discussion of the upcoming requirement for minimum energy efficiency in private rentals.
• Tension: How much regulation is ‘too much’, and what are fair standards for habitability?

Quotes:

• "If you have a bad winter and you have a bit of disrepair in the property, that can massively exacerbate things..." – Daljit [16:54]
• "Tenants deserve... a good home to live in. Should regulation be [for] private landlords, just as it is with social landlords?" – Daljit [20:16]

Memorable/Motivating Quotes

• "So know your rights." – Avais [05:37]
• "We're here to help as many people as we can with landlords and tenants and we're also here to help people who actually might not have a home or a habitable home." – Daljit [07:19]
• "I think that's the biggest issue that we are probably encountering at the moment is the legal aid rates are not great." – Manjinder [10:02]
• "We can really dive into it in a little bit more detail." – Rita [20:42], on upcoming episodes

What’s Next? (20:42–21:58)

• Future episodes will delve deeper into issues like disrepair, section 21 reform, regulation of the private rental sector, and more.
• The next episode will focus on the big topic of disrepair.

Closing Invitation:

• "[The] purpose of which is to really help our audience understand their rights and their responsibilities when it comes to housing." – Richard [20:48]

Timestamps For Important Segments

• 00:15: Episode intro and speaker introductions
• 04:09: Why housing law matters
• 07:19: What is housing law? Key principles and complexity
• 10:02: Legal aid explained
• 13:46: Surge in demand and rising caseloads
• 16:54: Political, economic and environmental impacts
• 20:42: Regulation, energy efficiency and what’s coming next

Summary Tone

The episode is friendly, practical, and passionate about making housing law accessible and useful for everyone—tenants and landlords alike. The team is candid about challenges but determined to use their expertise to support as many people as possible, particularly those marginalized by funding cuts and the housing crisis.

► Stay tuned for Episode 2: Everything You Need To Know About Disrepair!
► Share your thoughts with @DLHousingLaw on Twitter!