Amanda Ford

Amanda joined TV Edwards in 2011 and is 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; illegal eviction/harassment; anti-social behaviour injunctions; 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 allegations of anti-social behaviour or false allegations of sub-letting. She is also interested in representing clients where their landlord is relying on an invalid section 21 notice or 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.

Case Examples

• 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

Recommendations

“Extremely efficient: the firm generally, but Amanda Ford and Radhika Shah in particular are the associate solicitors I work most closely with, and their efficiency is unrivalled.”

– Legal 500 UK Solicitors Guide 2022

“I would just like to say thank you for what you have done for me and my family, we are very grateful, thank you again.”

“[We] would like to say a very big thank you for being such a fantastic representative for us which was first rate and for championing our case so relentlessly and successfully…This outcome is a great weight off our minds…I wish you all continued success in the future.”

“Can I take this opportunity to put on record my deepest thanks to yourself…for your support and assistance in this matter.”

“I want to say thank you for what you managed to achieve for me…I want you to know what you [do] is very valuable and lots of vulnerable people need people like you to help them in most difficult times although difficult to measure the impact of what you do I would say it was immense and not measurable.”

“Very Attentive. Gave advice that was in line with the case. Amanda was always quick to respond and reply to emails.”

“Thank you very much for your handling of this matter. I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome!And I fully appreciate all the advice and I take it on board. Thanks again!”

“Service was excellent, very professional and produced results.”

“very knowledgeable and helpful always returned my calls or email.”

“Staff are courtesy and knowledgeable. I’m kept up to date with my case”

“Very good – helpful.”

“I was searching for a solicitor for a very long time as soon as I found TV Edwards they was brilliant.”

“Best of the best”

“Thank you so much for everything you have done for me and my brother. You have made our lives better for the future. We can’t thank you enough for what you have done, your such an amazing women and we can’t believe you won us this nearly impossible case. Thanks again for everything best of luck.”