Our Housing team offers a wide range of housing-related advice, from tenancy agreements to landlord and tenant disputes and homelessness.
In the second of our series of interviews with the team, we meet Trainee Solicitor Skye Dunster.
Name: Skye Dunster
Job title: Trainee Solicitor
What does your job involve? Defending possession proceedings, issuing counterclaims including disrepair claims, challenging homelessness decisions and civil injunctions.
What do you like most about your job? Working with my brilliant team and helping to prevent people losing their homes.
What is the biggest misconception people have about your job? That the “housing team” are conveyancers!
What has been the highlight of your career so far at Cartridges Law? That the very first case I worked on by myself and defended before the Court was ruled in our favour, with significant benefit to our client.
What qualities or attributes do you think you need to work in housing law? Empathy and kindness – going from having a stable housing situation to being homeless can happen unexpectedly and, in some cases, very quickly.
What is your top legal tip for landlords? If you are going to become a landlord, to understand your responsibilities and the processes in place to protect both you and your tenant. Serving the prescribed information, documents and protecting your tenant’s deposit at the outset of the tenancy is the best way to ensure that you are compliant with your obligations as landlord and will facilitate a smoother process in regaining possession of the property.
There are significant changes coming for landlords and tenants, what do you think will be the most significant change for a landlord? The abolition of “no-fault” evictions. The change will mean that to regain possession of your property, you will need to rely on grounds to remove the tenant, such as rent arrears.
How can landlords keep up to date with changes in the law which will affect them? By keeping a close eye on the progression of the Renters’ Rights Bill through Parliament, reading latest news articles in relation to the Bill, and taking advice from a legal professional.
Contact Cartridges Law Housing team for an honest and empathetic appraisal of your matter.