The Clinic deals with a range of civil litigation, with lots of requests for help from people whose homes are at risk or who are experiencing other housing issues
With some enquiries the subject matter of the legal problem is obvious. However, a proportion of enquiries from the public resist any easy classification. They raise issues and questions which don’t fall clearly in any one distinct area of law or practice.
A big proportion of enquiries to the Clinic (as to any solicitors or advice agency) raise questions which are not clearly in any one distinct area of law or practice. Graham has noticed an increase in the numbers of cases in which older or otherwise vulnerable people have been persuaded, bullied, or swindled out of money and/or property rights by other relatives.
Here are a couple of the cases which Vivien Gambling, Clinic solicitor and Graham Tegg, Director of the Law Clinic are currently dealing with.
Family’s home at risk
Vivien Gambling, a Law Clinic Solicitor, represents a young woman who has disabilities in a dispute concerning the family home where she lives with her mother and brother. Our client’s father, who was divorced from her mother, died several years ago. At the time of his death our client’s parents still owned the family home jointly, although our client’s father had moved out and had re-married. More recently the person appointed to deal with our client’s father estate (i.e., his property and money) wanted the house to be sold. This would potentially make our client and her family homeless as they do not have enough money to buy or rent another property in Kent. We worked out that our young client can bring a claim under the Inheritance Act [Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975] asking the court to make an order that her father’s ‘share’ of the property home be transferred to our client. (The Inheritance Act gives the court power to make an order for “reasonable financial provision” from her father’s estate.) The process is complicated as due to the nature of our client’s disabilities she is unable to deal with the legal processes herself; she is a “protected party” and needs a relative, in this case her mother, to handle the case on her behalf. A student who worked on the case in the Spring term has helped with this case over the summer. We have now issued our client’s claim in the County Court. We hope to negotiate a settlement of the case, as unless an order a suitable settlement is reached, or unless the claim succeeds in court, there is a risk that our client and her family would lose their home, where they have lived for over 20 years.
Property and Land Law? Or something else? Defending a vulnerable person who has been swindled
Our client faced domestic violence from her partner. She has severe mental health problems and physical disabilities. The couple lived in a jointly owned property. It was sold, and she took her share, which was £180,000. When she was looking for somewhere else to live, a ‘friend of a friend of a friend’ encouraged her to move to a property in Chatham, where she would pay £500 a month, and give the ‘friend’ the rest of the money to invest, with an option to buy the property in a year’s time. That didn’t happen, a new ‘arrangement’ was made, but 3 years later she still had not seen the money. Then someone claiming to be the ‘new owner’ of the property served a Section 21 Notice – a notice served on tenants who are to be evicted – as he ‘didn’t want any tenants. Graham is assisting her to defend possession proceedings on the basis that she is not a tenant; her rights are more complex.