Welcome to Law & Lease.
I am Amanda Gourlay. I am a barrister and associate member of Tanfield Chambers. I am a specialist in the law of residential service charges.
Why a website about residential service charges?
I set up this website in 2012 because I found that the search facility on the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) website did not cater for the searches I needed.
It is true that the major legal databases provide comprehensive search facilities, but they are not available to everyone – and subscriptions are expensive.
There are free resources: the British and Legal Information Institute website (www.bailii.org) is fantastic, but it can be unwieldy to use.
What’s more, none of the above cater exclusively for residential leasehold.
When I set up Law & Lease, I wanted to review decisions given by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) and courts of record because, by reporting those decisions, I would further my own knowledge and would produce a growing database of information directed solely at residential leasehold issues.
The aim of Law & Lease
My aim is to translate court and tribunal decisions into straightforward language and to encapsulate the key points that affect the way that we use the law.
Unpacking those decisions can be a real challenge.
Jargon has deep and extensive roots in the legal profession, and residential leasehold law is no exception.
In addition, the law is embodied in a variety of Acts of Parliament. Many of those statutes have been amended over the years. Some parts of them have never come into force.
Judgments and decisions can be long and visually daunting. For example, just one paragraph of Lord Justice Lewison’s judgment in Di Marco v Morshead Mansions Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 96 covers more than a page of A4, in single-spaced type.
Webinars and social responsibility
Social responsibility is important to me.
In February 2021, I took my social responsibility project online.
#LawUnleashed, as it is known, is a programme of webinars that has a dual purpose.
The first purpose is to get information out there – wherever “there” is. The webinars are designed to be accessible to the widest range of people, irrespective of their legal knowledge or qualification.
The second purpose is to raise money for organisations that support the homeless or those facing mental health challenges.
Each webinar lasts about an hour, and costs £12 per person, of which £10 per person is given directly to one of those causes.
In 2021, we raised over £5,000. Hooray!
My experience
My residential service charge practice began in 2008 with a case about fourteen years of charges.
Since then, I have represented landlords, managing agents, Tribunal-appointed managers and leaseholders in cases ranging from the interpretation of leases to historic neglect; from the appointment of a manager by the Tribunal to building safety, and from the recoverability of the legal costs of litigation to the Right to Manage.
I have been fortunate along the way. My cases have taken me to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and in November 2021, to the Supreme Court.
Today
Sixteen years of full-time practice did not come without personal cost. Stress and anxiety have been my dogged companions for decades, and at the Bar, they cast shadows that grew as the years went by. I wrote a short piece about my experience of mental ill health for Mental Health Awareness/Acceptance Week: you can read it here.
In the end, I decided to step back almost completely from practice so as to direct my restored energy, when it came, into writing.
Over the winter of 2021-22, the wonderful people at Flourish Marketing redesigned and created the website as you see it now. The updated design is refreshing and cheery. The quirky logo evolved my love of from Jan Pieńkowski’s silhouettes. It is a space that I plan to fill with useful and practical information about residential leasehold.
For at least six years I have also wanted to write two books:
- one about residential service charges, with pointers and practical knowhow for the anyone facing service charge issues for the first (or indeed the umpteenth) time, and
- the other a guide to procedure, building on the section here about the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) procedure rules.
I hope that you enjoy the website – and please hold me to account on my books!
You can message me at AmandaGourlay@lawandlease.co.uk, and find me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.