Dean Underwood

Introduction & Contact details

Ranked by the Legal 500 as a Leading Junior in the field of property and housing litigation, Dean specialises in residential landlord and tenant, public and administrative law.  He has a particular expertise in housing and related administrative law, having built his practice advising and representing local authorities, registered housing providers and tenants in the county court, High Court, Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and Court of Appeal.  His administrative law practice covers homelessness, housing allocation, community care and welfare benefits.

Valued for his attention to detail, Dean is instructed by solicitors ranked by Chambers & Partners as leaders in the field of social housing.   He is a member of the Social Housing Law Association and Administrative Law Bar Association and provides training for the Chartered Institute of Housing in all aspects of housing law.  Dean has written on a range of legal issues affecting social housing and was the driving force behind Hardwicke's Social Housing Conferences in 2009 and 2010.

Recent cases of interest in which Dean has been instructed include:

• Oxford City Council v Basey [2012] EWCA Civ
• Howard v Stanton [2011] EWCA Civ 1481
• Brough v Law and Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission [2011] EWCA Civ 1932; The Times 7 November 2011
• JB v (1) Oxford City Council v (2) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2011] UKUT 136 (AAC)

Qualifications

• Diploma in Bar Vocational Studies (Outstanding)
• LLB Law (First class)
• MA (Oxon.) Modern Languages (Upper second)
• Baron Dr Ver Heyden de Lancey Award (Middle Temple) 2003
• Bar Council Certificate of Honour 2003 for outstanding performance on the BVC
• Kalisher Bursary 2002
• Astbury Scholar (Middle Temple) 2001  

Professional Associations

• Administrative Law Bar Association
• Housing Law Practitioners' Association
• Property Bar Association
• Social Housing Law Association

T:      020 7242 2523 (switchboard)
DDI:  020 7691 0303
F:      020 7691 1234
E:      dean.underwood@hardwicke.co.uk

Social Housing

Dean has particular expertise in the law governing public sector landlords and tenants.  He is ranked by the Legal 500 as a Leading Junior in the field of property and housing litigation, primarily for his expertise in housing litigation.  A member of the Social Housing Law Association and Housing Law Practitioners’ Association, Dean specialises in all aspects of housing- and related public and administrative law, including:

• the judicial review of local authority homelessness and housing allocation decisions;
• statutory homelessness appeals in the county court;
• possession and demotion claims;
• tenants’ rights, including succession and applications to exercise the right to buy;
• claims for anti-social behaviour injunctions and orders;
• applications to commit for breach of injunctions and undertakings
• disrepair, nuisance and statutory nuisance;
• unlawful eviction and harassment;
• mobile homes law;
• recovery of service charges and disputes before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal;
• Empty Dwelling Management Orders and applications before the Residential Property Tribunal.

Dean was the driving force behind Hardwicke’s Social Housing Conferences in 2009 and 2010.  He is regularly instructed to advise and represent local authorities, including many of the inner-London authorities, registered housing providers and the occupants of public sector accommodation: tenants; licensees; and trespassers.  He offers a commonsense approach to litigation and is well placed to handle cases involving the most sensitive and emotive issues, as well as litigants with behavioural and/or mental health problems.

Cases of interest

West Kent Housing Association v Grant, Tunbridge Wells County Court, July 2011

Dean acted for the housing association in its successful application to have public law and human rights defences to a possession claim dismissed summarily in accordance with Manchester City Council v Pinnock.  Mr Grant had attacked the housing association’s starter tenancy regime in a claim for possession of his home.  His various defences were dismissed summarily without the need for oral evidence.  For coverage of the case, see: http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/legal/pinnock-defence-tenant-loses-eviction-fight/6517054.article.

Sheppard v Community Housing Association [2008] EWHC (QB)

In two separate but related matters in the Queen’s Bench Division, Dean defended an application to transfer county court proceedings between the parties to the High Court and a claim against the housing association for an injunction order to restrain allegedly fraudulent activities on the claimant’s rent account.  Dean succeeded in having both the application and the claim dismissed and in obtaining a limited civil restraint order against the claimant.

Sanctuary Housing Association v Darnel [2006] EWHC (QB)

An appeal against a county court decision not to make a possession order in a claim brought on grounds of rent arrears.  The appeal concerned the proper application of Cumming v Danson [1942] 2 All ER 653 and the relevance of both historic arrears and current debts to the issue of reasonableness under section 7(4) of the Housing Act 1988.  Dean acted on behalf of the housing association.


Publications

• 'Speeding up the possession order process', 24housing (2011) October
• 'Don’t get court out', Inside Housing (2010) 28th May
• 'Age concern: case report', Inside Housing (2009) 24th April
• 'Into the void: an introduction to EDMOs', Inside Housing (2009) 17th April
• 'Breaking the chain', SJ (2005) 149/5 p138
• 'Demotion - a bow without a string?', SJ (2004) 148/26 p771 & 148/27 p801
• 'Getting demotion right', NLJ (2004) 154/7137 p1080
• 'Defending demotion proceedings', LAG (2004) September & October

For further information about Dean’s public and administrative law practice, please follow the link to our Public Law Division webpage. 

Property & Private Client

The core of Dean’s property practice comprises public sector, residential landlord and tenant work.  Dean advises local authorities, registered housing providers and public sector tenants in all aspects of housing law and has developed expertise representing clients in the High Court and county court.  Dean also undertakes private sector, residential landlord and tenant work and has experience representing local authority clients in commercial landlord and tenant disputes.  He recognizes that his clients’ interests may sometimes be served best outside of the court room and offers experience in mediation and settlement negotiation.

Landlord & Tenant -  commercial

Dean is well placed to advise and represent clients in commercial landlord and tenant disputes.  Instructed by local authority clients to handle claims for new tenancies of business premises, Dean offers a commonsense and pragmatic approach to litigation under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

Landlord & Tenant - residential

Dean has experience advising and representing private-sector landlords and tenants in claims for the possession of residential property, forfeiture, unlawful eviction, harassment, common law nuisance and the recovery of service charges.  He is instructed to represent local authority clients in disputes before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and has developed an expertise in the law governing Empty Dwelling Management Orders and related applications to the Residential Property Tribunal.

Cases of interest

Howard v Stanton [2011] EWCA Civ 1481

Dean represented a former assured shorthold tenant, Mrs Howard, in a successful second appeal to the Court of Appeal.  Mrs Howard’s former landlord, Ms Stanton, had appealed an order made at trial, allowing Mrs Howard’s claim for the return of a tenancy deposit and dismissing a counterclaim for damages.  The county court appeal judge had decided and allowed Ms Stanton’s appeal, despite being seized of an application for permission to appeal alone and despite Mrs Howard being absent.  His doing so was a serious procedural irregularity, which vitiated his decision.  Mrs Howard’s appeal was, therefore, allowed.  To read the transcript of the judgment, follow this link: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/1481.html.

Bruce v Woods [2007] February LAG p30

A harassment claim arising from a long-lasting ‘nasty neighbour’ dispute.  Dean acted on behalf of the claimants, who recovered damages exceeding £18,000.

Dovetail Estates Ltd v Mazrekaj [2006] March LAG p28

An accelerated possession claim dismissed for abuse of process. The claim concerned the proper application of Lower Street Properties v Jones [1996] 28 HLR 877 and Mannai Investments Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd (1997) AC 749. Dean acted on behalf of the tenant.

Trusts of Land

Dean is well placed to deal with applications under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and has a particular interest in TLATA applications involving tenancies granted to minors.

Public Law

The mainstay of Dean’s public and administrative law practice comprises statutory homelessness appeals in the county court and the judicial review of local authority homelessness and housing allocation decisions.  He also has experience in community care cases and welfare benefits appeals before the Commissioners.  Dean represents applicants as well as local authority and social landlord respondents and, in light of his expertise in housing law, offers experience of Human Rights Act- and public law defences to possession claims in the county court.  Dean recognizes that his clients’ interests may sometimes be served best outside of the court room and offers experience in mediation and settlement negotiation.

Benefits & Social Welfare

The core of Dean’s social security and welfare benefits practice comprises appeals in respect of housing benefits entitlements, although Dean is able to offer advice and representation in cases involving other means- and non-means tested benefits.  He acts on behalf of both benefit claimants and local authorities and has experience representing clients before both the First Tier and Upper Tribunals.

Cases of interest

Brough v (1) Law (2) Child Support Enforcement Commission [2010] EWCA Civ 1932; Times 7 November 2011

Dean was led in this appeal by Hardwicke’s Kerry Bretherton.  The appeal concerned the proper construction of provisions in the Child Support Act 1991 governing the termination of maintenance assessments in respect of qualifying children and, more particularly, whether the short-term reconciliation of the child’s parents would automatically bring such an assessment to an end.  The Court of Appeal determined that it would not.  A full transcript of the judgment is available at: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/1183.html.  The outcome of an application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court is now awaited.

JB v (1) Oxford City Council v (2) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2011] UKUT 136 (AAC)

Upper Tribunal Dean represented the respondent local authority in this appeal before the Upper Tribunal.  The appeal concerned the meaning of ‘sheltered accommodation’ in Schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and the appellant’s entitlement to Housing Benefit to cover charges for the cleaning, heating and lighting of the communal areas of his supported accommodation.  The Court of Appeal will decide an appeal in the matter in 2012.

CH 0866-2006

A successful appeal before the Social Security Commissioner challenging a finding by the Appeal Tribunal that overpayments of Housing and Council Tax Benefits were not recoverable under Regulation 99 and Regulation 84 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 and the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 respectively.  Dean was instructed by the local authority.

CH 0609-2004

A successful appeal before the Social Security Commissioner considering the correct approach to determining whether an overpayment of benefits caused by official error is recoverable under Regulation 99(2) of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987.  Dean appeared on behalf of the local authority.

Central & Local Government

Dean is regularly instructed to advise and represent local housing authorities and has experience of the interplay between local government law and the provision of accommodation by local authorities under both Part VI and Part VII of the Housing Act 1996.  He is also instructed to advise both local authorities and individuals on council tax liability and exemption.  Dean is keen to widen the ambit of his local government practice and is able to offer advice and representation in all aspects of local government law.

Community Care

Dean advises and represents local authorities and individuals in community care cases.  He offers experience of section 47 care assessments and expertise in the provision of accommodation by local authority social services departments under both the National Assistance Act 1948 and the Children Act 1989.  He also has experience both acting against and representing parties with significant mental health problems and is well placed to handle cases involving the Official Solicitor and other litigation friends.

Court of Protection & Mental Capacity

Dean is able to provide advice and representation in respect of all mental capacity and Court of Protection issues.  He is regularly instructed in cases involving parties, who lack the capacity to administer their affairs or to conduct litigation because of mental health problems.  He is well-versed in the provisions of the various mental health and capacity Acts and offers experience of handling cases involving the Official Solicitor and other litigation friends.

Discrimination

Dean has particular expertise in the application of both the Disability Discrimination Acts and Article 14 ECHR to the provision of social housing by local authorities and registered housing providers.

Homelessness & Housing Allocation

Dean’s public and administrative law practice is founded on statutory homelessness appeals in the county court and the judicial review of local authority homelessness and housing allocation decisions in the High Court.  Dean is well versed in the provisions of Parts VI and VII and the Housing Act 1996 and advises and represents both individual applicants and local authorities.  He offers experience of emergency ‘out-of-hours’ applications in the High Court for accommodation pending either the review or appeal of local authority homelessness decisions.

For further information about Dean’s Social Housing practice, please follow the link to our Property & Private Client webpage.

Human Rights & Civil Liberties

Dean is experienced in the application of the Human Rights Act 1998 to claims for the possession of residential premises and is able to offer advice and assistance regarding the impact of Articles 6, 8 and 14 ECHR in particular.  He also offers expertise in Human Rights Act- and public law defences to county court possession claims.

Judicial Review

The mainstay of Dean’s judicial review practice comprises the review of local authority homelessness and housing allocation decisions.  Dean acts on behalf of both applicants and respondent local authorities.  He is also able to offer advice and representation in claims for the judicial review of decisions made by local authority welfare benefits and social services departments.