Housing Law Handbook: A Practical Guide

Publisher: Law Society Publishing

General Editor: Stephen Cottle

Price: £49.95

Edition: 1st Edition (October 2009)

ISBN: 978-1-85328-684-1

Buy from Law Society Publishing: Click Here

For many practitioners, housing law is a significant part of their practice.  In particular, anyone regularly advising housing associations, residential landlords and lenders with charges over residential properties will need a solid understanding of this important area of law.  Practitioners needing this will find Law Society Publishing's Housing Law Handbook a valuable resource.

Written by team of barristers from Garden Court Chambers, Housing Law Handbook is split into ten chapters: homelessness; allocation of social housing; housing outside of Parts 6 and 7 of the Housing Act 1996; hazardous housing conditions and disrepair; anti-social behaviour; possession proceedings; housing benefit and possession proceedings based upon rent arrears; mortgage repossessions; procedure in possession claims; and the possession order and afterwards.  The inclusion of topics often perceived to be outside the remit of a normal housing law issues, like mortgage repossessions, is an extremely welcome inclusion for finance litigation lawyers.

Housing Law Handbook is the joint work of seven authors.  The chapters have therefore been split between them.  Where this happens, there is often an increased risk of the chapters differing in quality.  Unfortunately, Housing Law Handbook suffers from this issue as some chapters are clearly written whilst others are less so.  That said, those which are not so clearly written are still largely accessible and cover the main points.  The text is, crucially, written from a practical point of view, which is ideal for a busy practitioner.  Instead of overloading the reader with too much detail, often the text gives just enough to give the reader a practical working knowledge.  More footnotes could, however, have referred readers looking for a more detailed analysis to relevant material.

Given the substantial amount of housing law litigation which currently occupies the Courts, and its extremely competitive price, I have no doubt that Housing Law Handbook will become a favourite of many practitioners for years to come.   It aims to provide a practical guide to housing law and largely achieves this aim.  It is therefore ideal for more junior members of staff wanting a helping hand when dealing with their caseload.  Given its practitioner focus I would, however, have expected a number of precedents which are unfortunately not included in this edition.  I am sure that other lawyers will share this thought.  Future editions may therefore consider addressing this issue, even if it means a modest increase in the purchase price.

Reviewed on 16 May 2010

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