Suffolk Law Centre has announced a three-point expansion in the depth and reach of its Housing Legal Aid service, which supports some of the most vulnerable citizens across Suffolk and north Essex. Firstly, James Hanlon, who has been working for the service since September last year, has now qualified a Legal Aid Housing Supervisor for Legal Aid work, under the supervision of Hackney Law Centre. Secondly, the SLC has secured funding to recruit a Legal Aid housing caseworker to assist James manage the likely growth in casework which is anticipated once the ban on private sector evictions is lifted from 20th September this year. Thirdly, the SLC has won a contract to run the duty housing legal aid scheme at Bury St. Edmunds County Court. This will allow the service to be based in the court building itself and directly help people facing housing issues who have no legal representation, just as they have been doing at Ipswich County Court.
Suffolk & North Essex Law Society
Investment by Suffolk Law Centre in much-needed specialist legal expertise offers real hope to more local people than ever before who are or might be facing eviction from their homes. “Landlords in the UK have more power than their equivalents in most other European Union countries, including what are called section 21 evictions which allow landlords to take proceedings against tenants without having to provide a reason for so doing.” Prior to the lockdown, James reported that most of the cases the service dealt with came from north Essex, Ipswich and Lowestoft, but he is anticipating that more issues will emerge from west Suffolk once landlords are allowed to start eviction proceedings once again.
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Between September 2019, when he started working for the SLC, up to the COVID-19 lockdown in March, James had been working on over 90 housing matter enquiries of which 54 matters attracted Legal Aid funding. Since the lockdown and the supposed ban on landlords being able to evict tenants, the service has been comparatively quiet, allowing the SLC to focus on its expansion plans ahead of the ban being lifted. Initially, this was scheduled for 24th August but pressure from housing and legal charities late last week persuaded the Government to extend it by a month. Housing charity Shelter estimates that nationally, in spite of the ban, 58,000 private sector tenants were in fact evicted during the lockdown and another 174,000 had been warned by their landlords that they were facing evictions.
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The District Councils Network believes that up to half a million people may be in danger of losing their homes once the ban is lifted. James Hanlon said: “We could be facing an avalanche of homelessness in the autumn due to the backlog of eviction cases. Usually, it’s a David and Goliath fight between tenants and their landlords, which is why the service we provide is so important in levelling the playing field.
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