Alison Meacher

Call:1998

Introduction and Contact details

Alison was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 1998 and took up a tenancy at Hardwicke Building in 2002 after completing her pupillage at a specialist housing and local government set.

Alison is a public and property law barrister, primarily practising in the areas of Landlord and Tenant, Real Property, Social Housing, Benefits and Social Welfare, Community Care, Local Government, Court of Protection and Mental Capacity.

She is regularly instructed by Claimant law firms and on behalf of a wide range of local authorities, social housing providers, care and support providers, charities and voluntary organisations for the purposes of written advocacy and general advisory work, including advising on policy development and lawful decision making.

Alison has seven years of advocacy experience within the County Court, Tribunal Service (First and Second Tier), Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and has also appeared in the High Court and Appellate Court.  Alison also has experience of mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution.

Tel:    020 7242 2523 (switchboard)
Fax:   020 7691 1234

Email: alison.meacher@hardwicke.co.uk

PUBLIC LAW

Allocations and Homelessness

Alison experience of all aspects of allocations and homelessness and has experience of disputes concerning

• favourable s.184 decisions
• the provision of temporary accommodation
• reviews under s.202
• appeals to the County Court under s.204 and
• applications for judicial review including urgent applications for interim accommodation where a person is ‘homeless today’.

Alison also has also advised on Choice Based Letting Schemes, and has recently been instructed to judicially review a local authority’s application of its policy to reduce the priority of a woman who is homeless as a result of domestic violence as a result of previous unreasonable conduct and/or rent arrears.

Benefits and Social Welfare

Alison’s Social Security practice is growing rapidly.  The main element of her Social Security Practice relates to housing benefit though she has acted in cases concerning other welfare benefits including Supporting People, council tax (exemptions), disability living allowance, income support and working tax credits.

Alison has undertaken work on behalf of local authorities and individuals relating to many different aspects of housing benefit including:

• whether an overpayment is recoverable
• liability to pay rent
• property held on trust and ownership of property
• whether beneficial ownership amounts to capital
• property subject to discretionary trusts for the purposes of inheritance tax planning and to provide for vulnerable family members
• non-commercial tenancies, contrivance and abuse of the housing benefit scheme
• payment on two homes, temporary absence and normal residency.

Alison can also advise how to recover overpayments by registering the award at the County Court and the use of other civil remedies, such as an order for sale or attachment of earnings.

Alison’s cases regularly concern points of law not previously litigated and she has been instructed in a number of cases which have become test cases (concerning the meaning of beneficiary for the purposes of discretionary trusts, a partners ineligibility or failure to apply for a NINO, whether the cost of communal heating in supported living is an ineligible housing cost), and it is not uncommon for the Secretary of State to be joined to these cases as an interested party. Alison is used to advising local authorities on decision making where a large number of individual claimants will be affected by the decision and preparing appeals where the Tribunal has joined a number of appeals together.

She has been instructed to act in a number of cases relating to supported living since the development of Supporting People and has been instructed to act (successfully) both before and after the ‘Turnbull Decision’ for local authorities and claimants in cases concerning “exempt accommodation”.

Reported Cases

CH/1246 and 1247/2007 (Interim Decision) - Whether accommodation is "exempt accommodation" for the purpose of the 1995 Regulations if support is provided to the tenant by a third party who acts on behalf of the landlord in some other respect (but not in providing support). http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j2511/CH%20779%202007%20amended.doc
 
CH/4085/2007 – Whether a partner’s failure to attend an interview in connection with an application for a national insurance number justified refusal of housing benefit. http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j2561/CH%204085%202007-00.doc

CH/136/2007 – Whether, when deciding that a liability to pay rent had been created to take advantage of the benefit system, the local authority was entitled to look at the viability of the whole project or each individual claimant. www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j2241/CH%200136%202007-00.doc
 
CH/3282/2006 – Whether the Appellant was to be treated as not liable to make payments by reason of regulation 7 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1997 because the agreement was not on a commercial basis.
 http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j2511/CH%20779%202007%20amended.doc

Interesting unreported cases

Smith v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Court of Appeal, 2007, application for permission) – Whether an illiterate appellant acting in person had a fair trial of an appeal against a decision, where the Commissioner had refused an oral hearing of his appeal. [Alison acted in this case on referral from the Bar Pro Bono Unit]

Paramount Housing Association v Taylor (Oxford CC, 2006) – Claim for recovery of rent arrears – Whether regulation 93(2) of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1997 is ultra vires.

CH/705/2005 - Whether the principle of res judicata applied to the Tribunal’s decision and whether its decision bound the County Court in a subsequent claim for possession.

CH/2124/2004 – Whether a property in Scotland (held as a tenant in common with one other) is capital for the purposes of housing benefit.

Central and Local Government

Alison has a wide range of experience in the field of local government decision making, in particular in the fields of social housing, welfare benefits and adult social services. She can also advise on contract disputes between local government departments and service providers.

Community Care

Alison has considerable experience in the field of adult social care and its interaction with the provision of housing and welfare benefits.  Alison also has specialist knowledge in the Supporting People Programme.

Alison is regularly instructed by local authorities and housing associations to advise on the provision of care and support as well as auxiliary services, transfer to more suitable accommodation if necessary and in some cases the most effective and compassionate way to obtain possession or limit the impact of behaviour on the neighbours and local community.

Alison also acts for individuals who feel their local social services department is not meeting their needs or the needs of their loved ones.  Alison has experience of a wide range of remedies including judicial review, applications to the Court of Protection, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Mental Health Act 1983, mediation, the statutory complaints procedure and complaints to the local government ombudsman in cases of maladministration.

Reported Cases

R (Ali and Others) v Birmingham City Council, [2002[ EWHC 1511, [2022] HLR 51, QBD: Duty of local authority to a migrant EU national with a young family under s.21 National Assistance Act 1948, s.17 Children Act and the Human Rights Act 1998. [Alison was Junior Counsel].

Court of Protection & Mental Capacity

Alison regularly advises local authorities and housing association regarding tenants and members of their households who have mental capacity issues.
 
She is able to provide practical advice on steps to be taken before possession proceedings are issued and the steps that need to be taken to establish whether a party has capacity to litigate or whether the party is a protected person and needs an appointee, litigation friend or deputy to act on their behalf.
 
Alison has experience of appearing before the Court of Protection both for local authorities and individuals.

Recent work

• Acting for a local authority appointed to acting as a financial Deputy for a tenant in a family dispute regarding the tenants’ ‘best interests’.

• Acting for a mother challenging the decision of a local authority regarding the placement of her vulnerable adult son and an allegation of breach of Article 5 ECHR (deprivation of liberty).

Discrimination

Alison has experience of the application of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Article 14 of the ECHR in the fields of social housing, adult social services and welfare benefits.

EU Law

Alison has a wide range of practical experience of EU law having worked as a research assistant in the Brussels Annexe of the Corporate Department of Taylor Wessing, as a Volunteer at the AIRE Centre providing advisory work in areas of European Law and the European Convention of Human Rights, and a Judicial Assistant at The International Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands prior to practice. 
 
Alison also completed a Stage at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, as a J.P. Warner Scholar of the Honourable Society of Lincolns’ Inn, and a Stage of the Council of the European Union in Brussels.

Reported Cases

R (Ali and Others) v Birmingham City Council, [2002[ EWHC 1511, [2022] HLR 51, QBD: Duty of local authority to a migrant EU national with a young family under s.21 National Assistance Act 1948, s.17 Children Act and the Human Rights Act 1998. [Alison was Junior Counsel].

Human Rights

Alison’s cases regularly concern domestic human rights law and the application of International Treaties such as the European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights.

One of her recent cases in the Court of Protection concerned an allegation of breach of Article 5 of the Convention (deprivation of liberty of a vulnerable adult by a local authority).

Judicial Review

Alison’s has experience of judicial review in the field of Part VII homelessness, Part VI allocations and adult community care.

She is available at short notice to make emergency out of hour’s applications for interim relief.

PROPERTY & PRIVATE CLIENT

Inheritance and Probate

Alison has experience of inheritance and probate in so far as estate planning, probate and letters of administration have a direct impact on property rights, entitlement to benefits, means testing for community care services and the recovery of care home charges.

Land and Real Property

Alison has experience of many aspects of property law, including

• disputed boundaries and adverse possession
• co-ownership, trusts and beneficial interests
• interpretation of trusts and settlements
• legal and equitable charges, and

• mortgages (including possession proceedings).

 Landlord and Tenant (Residential)

 Alison is able to advise on all aspects of landlord and tenant law, including

• the type of tenure
• rent increases
• the service of s.8 and s.21 notices and notices to quit
• bringing and defending possession proceedings, including accelerated possession and forfeiture proceedings
• claims for unlawful eviction (including emergency injunctions to regain access)
• protection from harassment injunctions
• injunctions to enforce access and other covenants
• service of s.146 notices
• disputed service charges, and

• the recovery of unpaid service charges.

Social Housing

Alison’s Social Housing practice includes

• succession
• rent increases
• transfer of rights on stock transfer
• the right to buy
• shared ownership
• Data Protection
• disrepair
• the Decent Homes strategy
• temporary decants for the purposes of repairs
• emergency decants in case of fire and flood
• large scale decants for Regeneration projects,
• possession proceedings including compliance with the pre-action protocol for rent arrears and public law defences,
• anti-social behaviour injunctions (with and without notice), applications for committal for breach of injunctions,
• undertakings, and
• enforcement of other terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement. 

Alison also advises social housing providers on developing management policies including letting and decant policies and compliance with public law principles in decision-making.
 
She is regularly instructed by local authorities and social housing providers, but also acts for individuals on a private basis, with Legal Services Commission assistance or, in some cases, pro bono.
 
Alison also practices in a number of related areas including applications to the Court of Protection, mental capacity, community care, benefits and social welfare, human rights and civil liberties, EU law, and discrimination.

Reported Cases

Mayor and Burgesses of LB Lambeth v Vandra [2005] EWCA 1801, [2006] HLR 19, CA: Claim for possession – Subletting of the whole – evidence – inference of fact.
 
Mayor and Burgesses of LB Waltham Forest v Roberts [2004] EWCA 940, [2005] HLR 21, CA: Claim for possession – obtaining a tenancy by deception – materiality of inducement – rent arrears – entitlement to housing benefit
 
R (Ali and Others) v Birmingham City Council, [2002[ EWHC 1511, [2022] HLR 51, QBD: Duty of local authority to a migrant EU national with a young family under s.21 National Assistance Act 1948, s.17 Children Act and the Human Rights Act 1998. (Alison was Junior Council to Christopher Baker as a pupil at Arden Chambers).

Unreported cases of interest

Southern Housing Group v Harrison (Mr Justice Ramsey, QBD, November 2006)
s.9(2) Housing Act 1988 – application to suspend warrant – failure to take into account all factors
 
Oxford City Council v Ali (HHJ Harris, Oxford County Court, November 2006)
s.85(2) Housing Act 1985 – tolerated trespasser – personal representative – nature of the right to apply to postpone the date for possession.

Trust

Alison has experience on the interpretation of trusts and settlements, as well as the impact of inheritance tax planning on beneficiaries, especially their entitlement to welfare benefits and means testing for community care services.

Trusts of Land

Alison is able to advise individuals on all aspects of co-ownership, trusts and beneficial interests.  She also has experience of litigation involving proprietary estoppel.