Housing/landlord and tenant
Housing/landlord and tenant law encompasses all aspects of residential and commercial tenancies and covers issues as diverse as anti-social behaviour, disrepair, human rights, possession claims, succession and assignment. Clients might include local authorities, registered providers of social housing, private landlords and, of course, tenants. Having discovered a passion for the built and natural environment at university, Gavin Bennison wanted to find a career in which he could put his wellies on and apply his interest in the physical and tangible aspects of the world around him. Gavin knew he wanted to work with “either the natural or the built environment” and sought a career at the Bar: “Before I applied for pupillage, I already knew that I only wanted to do property law or planning and environmental law. Although these areas are often thought of as quite similar in everyday life, as areas of law they’re very different and I was unsure which I’d prefer.” Taking a leap of faith, he accepted his first offer of pupillage from Falcon Chambers – a pure property set – and has no regrets. Building a career as a property lawyer His time as a pupil at Falcon Chambers was “genuinely enjoyable and exhilarating. Written work made up the majority of my pupillage, but I went to court quite often with my supervisors, who were quite senior so they had interesting cases, including lots of knotty points of law, which is what I had imagined I’d be dealing with as a barrister. They also had slightly different practices to each other, so I experienced a variety of cases – from those involving huge multi-national hotel brands to working for private individuals about their tenancy.”
After 12 months as a pupil, Gavin secured tenancy and began his career as a property lawyer. He quickly found that cases have a much faster turnover compared to when he was a pupil: “A normal week would involve two or three hearings and two or three pieces of written work, so you’re likely to deal with between four and six different cases each week.” Clearly passionate about his work, Gavin emphasises how crucial it is for aspiring lawyers to be commercially aware, to understand their clients’ business and to have a genuine desire to learn about their field of practice: “Your solicitors and clients expect you to be interested in the area of law and to understand the business. For example, when I do agricultural work, farmers expect me to understand farming. I didn’t grow up on a farm and so at first I had no real knowledge of how the farming industry worked, but you must be interested enough to want to learn about it. “The basic reason I’m a property lawyer is because I’m interested in the background of the cases I work on. If I wasn’t a property lawyer, I wouldn’t be a lawyer at all!” Feeling valued While working on his cases Gavin particularly relishes being an independent decision-maker: “I enjoy the autonomy of being a barrister, as well as the independent responsibility because it makes you feel valued. I also love being self- employed and the set-up of chambers – it’s uniquely fulfilling and supportive.” Echoing his appreciation of feeling valued as a person and the variety between clients, Gavin discusses the highlight of his career so far: “It was the fourth hearing for two tenants who were on a low income, had little money and had been treated badly by their landlord. The case started because the landlord hadn’t addressed the appalling state of their flat, so the tenants withheld four months’ rent to try
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
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