Amanda Ford

Amanda qualified as a solicitor in 2009 and joined TV Edwards in 2011 as a housing supervisor. Amanda is experienced in all areas of housing law including: defending possession proceedings (rent arrears, sub-letting, succession and anti-social behaviour); applications to set aside or appeal possession orders; applications to suspend warrants of eviction; applications for re-entry following an eviction; illegal eviction/harassment; anti-social behaviour injunctions; committal cases following alleged breach of an anti-social behaviour injunction; homeless applications (reviews, appeals and Judicial Review proceedings); and disrepair claims.

Amanda is particularly interested in representing vulnerable clients in defending possession claims based on rent arrears where there is a counterclaim for poor housing conditions and in cases where an occupier seeks to defend possession proceedings based on their succession to the tenancy.

Amanda has used her advocacy skills to represent tenants and occupiers as Duty Solicitor at Bow, and Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Courts.

Notable cases

• Rent Arrears Possession Proceedings/Private Tenant/Counterclaim for Poor Housing Conditions – Amanda acted for an assured short hold tenant whose landlord had issued possession proceedings based on rent arrears. The tenant had temporarily stopped paying her rent due to her poor housing conditions. The client had had various health conditions including multiple strokes. The tenant was housebound and relied on carers. We defended the possession proceedings and issued a counterclaim based on the poor housing conditions in the property including a heating system that had only worked intermittently since the start of the tenancy, issues with flushing the toilet, damp and mould and a washing machine that flooded but was not replaced. As settlement could not be reached, the case proceeded to a 2-day trial. The tenant attended the trial remotely given her health issues and was represented by a barrister. At the trial, the Judge ordered that the possession claim be dismissed and awarded general damages for disrepair and unfitness in the sum of £25,020 plus costs. After the arrears of £12,368 were first extinguished, the tenant was still left with substantial damages. Further, the outstanding works as recommended by the expert were ordered to be carried out within 28 days. 
• Possession Proceedings/Alleged Sub-letting – Amanda acted for an assured tenant who had travelled abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic after a family bereavement. Unfortunately, the client was unable to fly home for almost 2 years for various reasons. The client’s landlord served the client with a Notice to Quit and Notice Seeking Possession; alleging that the client had not been using the property as his only or principal home and that he had sub-let the whole of the property. We defended the possession proceedings and ultimately settled the matter where a Suspended Possession Order was made, meaning that the client will retain his home if he complies with the terms of the order.
• Homelessness/Intentionality – The local authority issued possession proceedings against a non-English speaking client living in temporary accommodation, following a negative homelessness review decision made over 3 years before we opened the client’s case. Amanda advised the client to make a fresh homelessness application and made representations that the client was not intentionally homeless from her previous privately rented accommodation given that when she surrendered that tenancy, she was not aware that the temporary accommodation she had been provided by the local authority was for a finite period as she had not been advised of this via a professional interpreter. Ultimately a fresh homelessness application was accepted, and the main duty accepted by the local authority which means that they have a duty to continue to accommodate her.
• Rent arrears possession proceedings/Counterclaim for poor housing conditions and failure to protect a tenancy deposit – Amanda acted for a tenant after his landlord issued possession proceedings based on rent arrears. We defended the possession proceedings and issued a counterclaim based on the poor housing conditions in the property including various leaks which caused damp and mould and the fact that the private landlord had failed to protect the client’s deposit. The case proceeded to trial after we obtained a default judgement after the landlord had failed to file and serve their Reply and Defence to Counterclaim on time. At trial, the court dismissed the possession claim and awarded the client damages of £49,733.42 plus costs.
• Possession Proceedings/Succession – Amanda acted for a client who was living in his late partner’s housing association tenancy. After the tenant died, the client made an application to succeed the tenancy on the basis that he was the late tenant’s cohabitee and partner and they had been living together as a couple. This application was refused, and the landlord of the property issued possession proceedings against the client. During the course of the proceedings, we obtained a number of witness statements from friends and neighbours confirming the client’s residence at the property and the nature of his relationship with the late tenant. Ultimately, the case was settled after the Housing Association agreed to grant the client an assured tenancy of his late partner’s property.
• Committal – Amanda acted for a vulnerable client after his social landlord applied to commit him to prison for alleged breach of an anti-social behaviour injunction. The interim injunction had been obtained some years before the client had approached this firm and as the client had not been legally represented at the time the order was made, it had no end date. Amanda obtained a number of witness statements from various neighbours confirming that the alleged noise nuisance was not emanating from the client’s property but from neighbouring properties. During the course of the proceedings, the client became housebound, and several final hearings had to be adjourned. We ultimately managed to settle the matter on the basis that the application for committal be adjourned generally and be dismissed if no application to restore is made within a certain period. We also agreed that the interim injunction be discharged within a certain period. This vulnerable client therefore avoided imprisonment.
• Application for Re-Entry – Amanda acted for a vulnerable assured tenant who was evicted from her home of over 16 years. The client only realised that she had been evicted when she returned home to find that the locks had been changed and her dog had been locked inside. The client and her mother had been in regular contact with her landlord by phone regarding the client’s mental health issues prior to her eviction, but her landlord had not confirmed the impending eviction in any of these conversations. Further, the client felt reassured by her landlord that her home was safe given that she was paying her rent. This case was ultimately settled on the basis that the client’s aunt was able to pay a lump sum to reduce the arrears and the client was able to re-enter her home and retain her tenancy despite the eviction.
• Possession Proceedings/Succession – Amanda acted for a 20 year-old client whose mother and father had both died in tragic circumstances several years apart. The client’s mother was the original sole tenant and the client’s father had succeeded his partner’s tenancy following her death. After the client’s father died, the social landlord issued proceedings to obtain possession of the family home where Amanda’s client still lived. The client wanted to remain in his childhood home along with his brother. Amanda obtained medical evidence regarding the client’s brother and considered extensive social services files to support the client’s case. After making detailed representations, the social landlord agreed to let the client and his brother stay in their family home, offering the client a discretionary tenancy of the property.
• Possession Proceedings/Allegations of Sub-letting/Mental Capacity – After a social landlord served a Notice to Quit and issued possession proceedings against a vulnerable tenant with severe mental health issues, alleging that he no longer occupied his property as his only and principal home and that he had sub-let the property – Amanda successfully defended the proceedings. Amanda obtained supporting expert medical evidence, and multiple witness evidence, and the case was settled before trial. It was agreed that the tenant was a disabled person as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and the tenant ultimately avoided a possession order being made against him and he was able to remain in his home and maintain the residence of an overnight carer. Amanda was instructed by the Official Solicitor in this matter as the client lacked litigation capacity.
• Committal/Alleged Hoarding – Amanda acted for a vulnerable elderly client whose social landlord had applied to commit him to prison for alleged breach of an injunction which was ordered to allow the landlord to undertake works and carry out treatments to deal with the infestations in the property. Amanda obtained expert medical evidence and defended the proceedings. After allowing access to the property and compliance with the injunction, the client avoided committal to prison and the proceedings were discontinued.
• Disrepair/CFA– Amanda acted for a vulnerable client under a Conditional Fee Agreement regarding major disrepair issues in his previous property. The client had suffered from water penetrating the roof of his previous property and due to a defective boiler, he had no heating or hot water for a considerable amount of time. Without issuing proceedings, a settlement was reached and the client was awarded £13,250 plus legal costs.
• Possession Proceedings/Section 21 Notice – After a private landlord repeatedly issued possession proceedings relying on invalid section 21 notices, Amanda repeatedly acted for the client in defending the proceedings. The final claim of possession was dismissed as the landlord had failed to serve the tenant with a gas safety certificate or the correct edition of the How to Rent checklist.
• Eviction/Mental Capacity – Amanda acted for a client with severe mental health issues who had been stranded abroad for 20 months after he suffered from a relapse and ran out of medication. Upon his return to the UK the client’s landlord had applied to evict him (due to arrears of over £8,000) and he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Amanda managed to successfully apply to suspend the warrant of eviction against this vulnerable client and he retained his home.
• Injunction/Mental Capacity – After a social landlord applied for a client without capacity to be committed to prison for breach of an anti-social behaviour injunction, Amanda successfully applied for the injunction to be discharged and for the application to commit the client to prison to be dismissed.
• Unlawful Eviction – Amanda acted for a private tenant who had been unlawfully evicted from her property with her family. Amanda successfully applied for an injunction to allow the client to resume occupation of her home. The terms of the injunction also prevented the landlord from harassing the client. Subsequently, Amanda secured £7,000 in damages for the client plus costs.
• Possession Proceedings/Temporary Accommodation – Amanda acted for a vulnerable client with severe mental health issues in temporary accommodation, where his landlord had issued possession proceedings based on rent arrears and allegations that he had breached his tenancy agreement. Amanda successfully defended the proceedings and the proceedings were dismissed after £18,278.19 was paid into the client’s rent account by the Housing Benefit Department.
• Possession Proceedings/Equality Act – Possession proceedings were issued by a social landlord based on rent arrears against a vulnerable client with very significant physical and mental health issues. Amanda acted for the client in defending the possession proceedings and in issuing a counterclaim contending that the client’s social landlord had unlawfully discriminated against him. Amanda successfully negotiated settlement of the claim and as a result the possession proceedings were dismissed and the client was awarded £2,784.42 in damages plus costs.
• Homelessness/Termination of Temporary Accommodation – Amanda urgently assisted a client who was street homeless after being given less than 24 hours’ notice to leave his temporary accommodation provided by the Local Authority. The client’s accommodation had been terminated following allegations of anti-social behaviour. Amanda threatened Judicial Review proceedings and the client was accommodated by the Local Authority and subsequently a duty was accepted to continue to accommodate him.

Panel Memberships

• Housing Law Practitioners’ Association (HLPA)

Languages

• Conversational Spanish
• Conversational European Portuguese

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