Social housing

Housing director Manjinder Kaur Atwal has over 13 years’ experience in housing and property litigation law. She handles a wide variety of housing and property law dispute cases including possession claims and eviction matters, landlord and tenant disputes, homelessness, housing disrepair, bringing judicial review matters, reviews and appeals relating to local authority housing decisions, bringing and defending injunctions, boundary disputes, property nuisance/negligence claims, consumer and contractual matters, debt recovery, and enforcement. She also has considerable experience dealing with small claims cases and multi-track cases, and undertakes her own advocacy at court and tribunals on behalf of her clients. Manjinder is dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome for her clients and has earned a reputation for taking on difficult cases  deemed without merit, going on to obtain excellent results for clients. Her most notable recent undertaking is her work assisting victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. As well as assisting victims with their immediate housing needs, she is heavily involved in negotiations and raising awareness for those who have been impacted. Manjinder and her team were amongst the first lawyers to assist the victims and was part of a team that set up two drop-in pro bono clinics at Al Manaar Mosque and Westway Sports Centre. She has appeared in the media on multiple occasions, discussing the needs of Grenfell victims and how the cuts to legal aid for housing disrepair have impacted vulnerable tenants. Manjinder regularly features in the media, speaking to TalkRadio Live and RT UK News discussing her work. She recently discussed the government's low levels of spending on social housing and the impact on landlords and tenants during the Covid-19 outbreak. She has also written numerous articles for media platforms on the current social housing issues.

Partner and Head of Property Litigation

Experience Michael is head of the Housing Management Team at Capsticks. In addition to leading the team, Michael works with Registered Providers and Councils nationally on all aspects of Housing Management. He also previously advised private landlords and tenants. Expertise Michael advises social landlords on all aspects of housing management from drafting and interpreting tenancy agreements, policies and other documentation to advising on complex succession disputes, disrepair matters and high-profile anti-social behaviour cases. He represents clients on Public Law, Equality Act and Human Rights Act challenges and advises on complaints handling. He has also represented clients at coroner’s inquests and frequently oversees multi-agency approaches to resolve matters including through alternative dispute resolution.Michael undertakes training nationally for clients and sector leaders such as the Chartered Institute of Housing, Resolve, National Housing Federation, Housemark, Lime Legal and Capita. He is also a regular contributor to housing media. Notable projects Regularly speaks at and chairs national housing conferences Legal advisor to the CIH knowledge hub Asked by the Home Office to help stress test the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 Represented Registered Providers on many leading cases

Partner and Head of Housing Management Team

Linda heads the firm’s social housing team. She has over 20 years’ experience and specialises in advising housing providers on acquisitions, disposals, associated planning agreements, home ownership transactions (both affordable and outright sale) and lease extensions, as well as advising on Right to Buy and Right to Acquire. Linda has strong relationships with clients including the Peabody Group, L&Q, Bromford, Paragon Asra and Vivid Housing. She pioneers initiatives for clients designed to help individuals to move into affordable home ownership and increased delivery from new providers to the sector. Linda is a regular contributor to sector publications and regularly speaks at leading sector conferences.