One of the region’s leading Social Housing legal teams is targeting further expansion as demand for its services from housing associations, local authorities and housebuilder clients continues to grow.
The specialist social housing team was established in 2022 and has grown from a team of two to eight today, with its turnover almost doubling in the last three years. Building on Howes Percival’s long history of acting for housing association clients, the team has developed a reputation as one of the leading social housing advisors in East Anglia. Its lawyers act for many of the key housing associations in the region, as well as local authorities, and developers in East Anglia and beyond.
The most recent addition to the team, Holly Hunt, joined as an Associate having trained in-house at a large housing association, and has experience in dealing with a range of commercial property work both within and outside the social housing sector, including development, landlord and tenant matters, and refinancing projects.
The team’s growth has also been reflected in the most recent round of promotions at Howes Percival with Jonathan Parker, a specialist social housing solicitor who works with housing associations, local authorities and private house-builders on all aspects of non-contentious social housing, becoming a Partner and Katie Reading, who assists housing associations on purchasing section 106 affordable housing, negotiating development agreements and dealing with the subsequent plot sales and shared ownership leases being promoted to Senior Associate.
The Social Housing team also works closely with the firm’s Housing Management team, led by Partner Simon Murphy and made up of five solicitors, a trainee solicitor and an apprentice solicitor. The team advises on possession, damp and mould claims, electrical and gas safety injunctions, decants and Equality Act advice as well as issues such as adverse possession, restrictive covenants and unlawful subletting.
Howes Percival Partner and Head of the Social Housing team, Estelle Corner commented,
I’m delighted by the success we’ve had as a team, in such a short period. We have seen a series of new client wins in the past 12 months along with a significant increase in work from existing clients. Our focus has always been on building strong long-term relationships with clients and to do this by listening to what our clients really need and responding accordingly. The team is genuinely passionate about social housing and actively contributing to the sector. Continuing to invest in our team helps us to support more clients accessing Homes England’s grant funding programme to help meet the government’s ambitious target to build 1.5 million homes by 2029.
Click here more information about Howes Percival’s Social Housing team.
