Page 54 - Solving Housing Disputes

III. REFORMING CURRENT PROCESSES

3.1 The proposal for a fully formed HDS is likely to be many years away and will
need to be integrated within the current system. While, at present, there are many
encouraging reforms and practices under consideration, we believe the system
nevertheless needs to be improved further to serve people with housing problems.

3.2 Too many people find themselves unable to access a remedy for their housing
issues. Court and tribunal closures and the diminution of publicly funded legal
advice has frustrated access to justice and created significant hurdles for rights
vindication across the sector. As we set out in the introduction, homelessness has
increased drastically, with consequent pressures being placed on local authorities
and other social services. People at risk of homelessness struggle to get assistance,
and many local authorities find themselves under pressure to deliver on their
statutory obligations.

3.3 Mediative methods are marginalised or not well joined up, notwithstanding their
universally agreed benefits and the prospect that in housing, it might allow parties
to reset their relationship. In addition, the current system is disaggregated. It
requires greater consolidation and rationalisation. There should be greater
emphasis placed on ensuring that judges and other decision takers have the
requisite degree of specialism. In addition, there should be much greater ease of
access from a user perspective.

3.4 The following two Chapters of this report address those challenges. This Chapter
addresses how current processes could be reformed. Chapter 4 addresses how the
housing dispute system could be harmonised to create a single point of entry.

Accessing the courts and tribunals

Legal advice and representation

3.5 The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) has
had a catastrophic impact upon housing advice and representation across England
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and Wales. A 2019 parliamentary briefing by the Law Society found 37% of

127 The introduction of LASPO reversed the previous position under the Access to Justice Act 1999 where
matters were in scope unless “excluded matters”. Instead, under LASPO civil work was excluded unless
a prescribed matter set out in Schedule 1 of LASPO, Pratt, Brown, Sturge, ‘The future of legal aid: debate
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