Judicial Appointment Honour for Forbes Solicitors

Forbes Solicitors are delighted to announce that Lachlan McLean, Partner in the Housing & Regeneration (Litigation) team, has been appointed as a Fee-Paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal, assigned to the Property Chamber.

The First-tier Tribunal is a specialist division within HM Courts and Tribunals Service which settles disputes around particular areas of law. The Property Chamber, where Lachlan will be sitting, deals with disputes such as leasehold service charges, leasehold management and enfranchisement, rent setting and other residential landlord and tenant matters.

Lachlan joined Forbes Solicitors as a paralegal in November 2005, after completing the Bar Vocational Course in Manchester, and has remained at the firm ever since. Lachlan qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and obtained Higher Rights of Audience in 2012. He is a founding member of Forbes' Housing team and leads the Complex Case and Leasehold unit. Lachlan's team advises and represents social housing landlords such as housing associations, local housing authorities and ALMOs; with a particular focus on residential leasehold, commercial and property disputes, and cases which involve a regulatory dimension such as equality and human rights issues. Prior to his appointment, Lachlan had already represented several of his social housing clients as an advocate in the First-tier Tribunal.

Social Housing White Paper Webinar - 7th December, 9.30am

The Social Housing White Paper places customers at the very heart of Registered Providers, from day-to-day housing management through to complaints handling, governance and everything in between.

Forbes Housing Group along with colleagues from other key agencies will focus on embedding the requirements of the Social Housing White Paper into service delivery models. We are delighted to be joined by Debbie Potter, Resident Involvement Manager at Together Housing.

This webinar will explore how we shape front-line practice going forward, legal implications, prevent risk, regulation and data management.

Click here to book your place and submit any questions you would like to put forward to the panel of speakers.

 UK/Ireland Housing & Organised Crime Webinar

Since 2018, Forbes Solicitors have been focusing upon the role of Registered Housing Providers when tackling organised crime in our neighbourhoods.

We have worked closely with a number of Police Forces throughout the UK to raise awareness, gain an understanding of threat levels and operational responses within each region.

Earlier this year, we teamed up with renowned Dublin-based criminologist, community activist and social commentator Trina O'Connor to extend the reach of this process and develop partnership links with Irish colleagues as the impact of organised crime crosses international boundaries. Social Housing residents are often at risk of exploitation at the hands of criminal gangs therefore we were keen to learn more about the approaches used by relevant agencies in a neighbouring country given that the lives of individuals, families and young people in both nations are often destroyed by the actions of these complex and well-established networks.

Planning reforms and government funding schemes - are these the solutions developers have been waiting for?

Developers are still hoping that planning reforms on the horizon in England could still be good news. Early announcements suggested reforms would aim to streamline the current planning application process and introduce a zone system that would automatically grant development rights to some areas. Currently, the biggest hurdle new developments need to navigate is the length of time it takes to get planning permission and the new system is intended to help alleviate these issues. These proposals have, however, met with significant opposition including concerns that altering the consultation process would limit the ability to object to or raise concerns about a planning application.

Safeguarding & Social Housing Podcast

In the latest ASC Forbes podcast, Darren Burton, Head of Housing Consultancy, sat down with Kella Bowers, Partner and Head of Abuse and Social Care from the Insurance Team to discuss how the role of Safeguarding fits withing the Social Housing sector.