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<\/p>\n
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\u2019t fall clearly in any one distinct area of law or practice.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Here are a couple of the cases which Vivien Gambling, Clinic solicitor and Graham Tegg, Director of the Law Clinic are currently dealing with.<\/p>\n
Family\u2019s home at risk <\/strong><\/p>\n 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\u2019s father, who was divorced from her mother, died several years ago. At the time of his death our client\u2019s parents still owned the family home jointly, although our client\u2019s father had moved out and had re-married. More recently the person appointed to deal with our client\u2019s 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\u2019s \u2018share\u2019 of the property home be transferred to our client. (The Inheritance Act gives the court power to make an order for \u201creasonable financial provision\u201d from her father\u2019s estate.) The process is complicated as due to the nature of our client\u2019s disabilities she is unable to deal with the legal processes herself; she is a \u201cprotected party\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u00a0 home, where they have lived for over 20 years.<\/p>\n Property and Land Law? Or something else? <\/strong>Defending a vulnerable person who has been swindled<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u00a3180,000. When she was looking for\u00a0 somewhere else to live, a \u2018friend of a friend of a friend\u2019 encouraged her to move to a property in Chatham, where she would pay \u00a3500 a month, and give the \u2018friend\u2019 the rest of the money to invest, with an option to buy the property in a year\u2019s time.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t happen, a new \u2018arrangement\u2019 was made, but 3 years later she still had not seen the money. Then someone claiming to be the \u2018new owner\u2019 of the property served a Section 21 Notice \u2013 a notice served on tenants who are to be evicted \u2013 as he \u2018didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"