Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
DEFENDING POSSESSION PROCEEDINGS
Ninth edition
By JAN LUBA QC, ANN BEVINGTON, JOHN GALLAGHER, SAM MADGE-WYLD, AND SARAH STEINHARDT
ISBN: 978 1 91227 399 7
LEGAL ACTION GROUP
lag.co.uk
____________________________________________________
DEFENDING POSSESSION PROCEEDINGS? YOU NEED THIS NEW BOOK
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister” and Mediator
Frequently referred to as “the homelessness prevention handbook” (for good reason), this reliable and long-established work of reference from the Legal Action Group is out now in a new ninth edition.
Across its more than 1,200 pages it covers -- in a comprehensive, thorough, and user-friendly fashion -- virtually every aspect of housing law relating to possession proceedings, specifically those which impact on the three main categories of occupier: social housing tenant, private tenant, and owner occupier.
In depth, breadth, and height so to speak, the scope and complexity of housing law is literally enormous. As pointed out by editor Jan Luba QC and his team of housing law experts, this new edition ‘is more than four times longer than the first edition, published in 1987.
‘Housing law in England,’ they add, ‘has become shamefully inaccessible to those who need it most’ -- hence at the pressing need for this definitive and ever reliable text. As explained in this edition, however, the book is not ‘a treatise on all the relevant law of tenancies and mortgage.’ Rather, it is a practical book, focusing on ‘practice and procedure and the relevant substantive law.’
As it’s been at least six years since the publication of the previous edition (2016) this text predictably contains much new material -- and these are only a few examples: discrimination defences and counterclaims... welfare benefits for tenants... benefit issues in possession claims... dependents who may lack mental capacity... costs for publicly funded dependents... and of course, much more. Notably, the book contains succinct and pertinent commentary on the multifaceted effects of the pandemic (summarized in the preface) during which time the number of claims has significantly fallen.
‘However,’ warn the editors, 'the prospect of eviction, particularly for rent and mortgage arrears due to the economic consequences of the Pandemic, has for many people, been delayed rather than averted’ -- a grim reality which will obviously increase possession activity in the courts in the immediate future. A good thing then, that this necessarily large volume is so easy to navigate.
There is a detailed table of contents eight pages long, a 100-page index and a ‘How To Use This Book’ chapter. Paragraphs are numbered throughout and there are 140 pages of cases, statutes, statutory instruments as well as a table of EU and international legislation, plus a four-page listing of abbreviations. Also note the two appendices which include statements of cases and applications.
For barristers and solicitors practicing in this highly sensitive and complex area of law, this book is ideal. And equally important, it is accessible to a general readership and would therefore -- in the tradition of the Legal Action Group -- be of immense help to those defending themselves in court against possession proceedings.
The date of publication of this ninth paperback edition is cited as 23rd December 2021 – as LAG celebrates its 50th anniversary (1972-2022).
BOOK REVIEW
DEFENDING POSSESSION PROCEEDINGS
Ninth edition
By JAN LUBA QC, ANN BEVINGTON, JOHN GALLAGHER, SAM MADGE-WYLD, AND SARAH STEINHARDT
ISBN: 978 1 91227 399 7
LEGAL ACTION GROUP
lag.co.uk
____________________________________________________
DEFENDING POSSESSION PROCEEDINGS? YOU NEED THIS NEW BOOK
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister” and Mediator
Frequently referred to as “the homelessness prevention handbook” (for good reason), this reliable and long-established work of reference from the Legal Action Group is out now in a new ninth edition.
Across its more than 1,200 pages it covers -- in a comprehensive, thorough, and user-friendly fashion -- virtually every aspect of housing law relating to possession proceedings, specifically those which impact on the three main categories of occupier: social housing tenant, private tenant, and owner occupier.
In depth, breadth, and height so to speak, the scope and complexity of housing law is literally enormous. As pointed out by editor Jan Luba QC and his team of housing law experts, this new edition ‘is more than four times longer than the first edition, published in 1987.
‘Housing law in England,’ they add, ‘has become shamefully inaccessible to those who need it most’ -- hence at the pressing need for this definitive and ever reliable text. As explained in this edition, however, the book is not ‘a treatise on all the relevant law of tenancies and mortgage.’ Rather, it is a practical book, focusing on ‘practice and procedure and the relevant substantive law.’
As it’s been at least six years since the publication of the previous edition (2016) this text predictably contains much new material -- and these are only a few examples: discrimination defences and counterclaims... welfare benefits for tenants... benefit issues in possession claims... dependents who may lack mental capacity... costs for publicly funded dependents... and of course, much more. Notably, the book contains succinct and pertinent commentary on the multifaceted effects of the pandemic (summarized in the preface) during which time the number of claims has significantly fallen.
‘However,’ warn the editors, 'the prospect of eviction, particularly for rent and mortgage arrears due to the economic consequences of the Pandemic, has for many people, been delayed rather than averted’ -- a grim reality which will obviously increase possession activity in the courts in the immediate future. A good thing then, that this necessarily large volume is so easy to navigate.
There is a detailed table of contents eight pages long, a 100-page index and a ‘How To Use This Book’ chapter. Paragraphs are numbered throughout and there are 140 pages of cases, statutes, statutory instruments as well as a table of EU and international legislation, plus a four-page listing of abbreviations. Also note the two appendices which include statements of cases and applications.
For barristers and solicitors practicing in this highly sensitive and complex area of law, this book is ideal. And equally important, it is accessible to a general readership and would therefore -- in the tradition of the Legal Action Group -- be of immense help to those defending themselves in court against possession proceedings.
The date of publication of this ninth paperback edition is cited as 23rd December 2021 – as LAG celebrates its 50th anniversary (1972-2022).
