edited by laura slater

Residential Property Practice:An Expert Guide2nd edition

EDITED BY LAURA SLATER

Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide2nd edition

Head of legal publishingFiona Fleming

PublisherHelen Donegan

EditorLaura Slater

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Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Chapter 1: Looking ahead in conveyancing (revisited) – The future is collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1By Eddie Goldsmith, chairman of the Conveyancing Association and senior partner at Goldsmith Williams Solicitors

Ch-ch-changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Who said you couldn’t teach old dogs new tricks? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Singing from the same hymn sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Regulation and education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5More exciting times ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Chapter 2: Private residential landlord and tenant law – An update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9By David Smith, partner and head of operations at Anthony Gold Solicitors

Recovery of possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Tenancy deposit protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Other new restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 3: Residential property disputes – Recent case law . . . . 33By Belinda Walkinshaw, partner at SA Law

Buying and selling residential property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Remedies in property disputes – Damages or injunctions . . . . 35Interpretation of restrictive covenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Determination of boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Co-habitation and co-ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Contents

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Contents

Chapter 4: Property mediation in the post-Jackson and Mitchell world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41By Sara Benbow, founder member of the Property Mediators; barrister at Hardwicke

Clear statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Costs budgeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Slightest slip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 5: A whistle-stop tour of shared ownership leases . . . . . 45By Rebecca Cattermole, barrister at Tanfi eld Chambers

Defi nition of shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Characteristics of a shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46The provisions in a shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Persons eligible for a shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Different types of shared ownership leases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Status of the shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Recovery of possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Effect of possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Position of mortgagee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 6: A guide to shared ownership, the leases, and the fundamental clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59By David Keighley, head of residential conveyancing at Herrington Carmichael LLP

Different types of shared ownership lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60The fundamental clauses within a shared ownership lease . . . 62Staircasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Chapter 7: Compliance pinch points for residential conveyancers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77By Tracey Calvert, director of Oakalls Consultancy Limited

Confl ict of interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Referral arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Costs information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Undertakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Property-related fraud and money laundering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Cybercrime and other frauds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

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Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide

Chapter 8: Conveyancing fees – An update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85By John Coulter, head of legal practice at Medway Law

Advertising prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Hidden charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Unexpected costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89The online price war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 9: What would you like to achieve? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93By Jonathan Pearson-Basudev, chartered legal executive at WTB Solicitors LLP

A case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Managing fears and expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Building relationships and loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Handling complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Chapter 10: Home truths – How conveyancing fi rms can improve service and win business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99By Ben Harris, sales and marketing director at TM Group

Customer service expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99The conveyancing process from the customer’s point of view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Simple steps can improve customer experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chapter 11: Service and visibility – Watchwords for business development success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105By Douglas McPherson, director of Size 10½ Boots

How can you make the most of your professional contacts? . . 105How do you generate new clients? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108How do you maximise the returns from your current client base? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Chapter 12: Whither (or wither) high street conveyancing? . . . . 115By Paul Hajek, principal of Clutton Cox Solicitors

Big Law – Small Law, who are those guys? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116But, we’ve never had it so good (recently) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116‘Events, dear boy, events’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116We’re doomed, Captain, we’re doomed! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

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Contents

The internet has changed client behaviour for good . . . . . . . . 117‘Online’ will be the new high street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Three choices for small conveyancing fi rms in the digital high street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118It’s the client, silly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Inbound and content marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Be more like legal publishers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120It gets harder to differentiate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Give clients what they want, not what you think they need . . 122Price and context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Sales and marketing now – Not like it was in 1999 . . . . . . . . . . 122But what about the ROI of social media for law fi rms . . . . . . . 123Social media no-nos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Staying one step ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Whither or wither law fi rms? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

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With both house prices and property transactions on the rise, the outlook is good for the UK’s property lawyers. In fact, 66 per cent of residential conveyancers report a rise in new business, and 44 per cent say they believe the market will continue to improve in the near future.1 This is not a time for complacency, however. As the market continues to evolve and technology increasingly infl uences both the way conveyancers work and client expectations, it is more important than ever to be fully responsive to the latest changes in law and practice, to provide your clients with the most pertinent and up-to-date advice, and to ensure that their needs remain central to your practice.

Designed to meet the needs of the busy practitioner, this essential guide provides an overview of the latest developments in residential property law and practice and highlights the key points to take note of for those working in this practice area. Drawing on the experience of well-respected conveyancing experts and practitioners, this second edition of Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide also provides practical, actionable advice to ensure you comply with the SRA’s expecta-tions, provide outstanding client care, and secure referrals and repeat custom.

The guide opens with a general overview of the convey-ancing market from Conveyancing Association chair, Eddie Goldsmith. Looking back at the changes that have taken place since he contributed to the fi rst edition of this guide in 2013, he comments on the impact of Veyo and the ‘big move online’, details the work of the CA to improve collaboration with key industry stakeholders to improve the conveyancing process, and issues a call to action for practitioners to reassess how

Executive summary

viii

Executive summary

they work and to ensure they continue to perform to the best of their abilities.

As part of its coverage of recent legislative changes and case law, this guide continues with an update on residential land-lord and tenant law, which has seen a number of important decisions in the courts and tribunals and a great deal of new legislation in the last 12 months. David Smith of Anthony Gold Solicitors provides insight into the most important develop-ments and looks ahead to those that are still to come in the near future.

In the next article, Belinda Walkinshaw of SA Law then examines the latest developments in the area of property disputes. There have been a number of important cases recently which have had a signifi cant impact on areas such as trusts of property, rights of light, boundary disputes, co-habitation, and co-ownership. This chapter looks at some of the key decisions and draws out the most important points to note. Following on from this, an article from barrister and mediator Sara Benbow (Hardwicke) looks at the particular benefi ts and requirements of mediation in the context of property disputes.

Shared ownership is growing in popularity in the UK as a means for those on a more limited income to buy a suitable property in the location of their choice. The scheme offers a range of potential benefi ts, but is it the future of home owner-ship? Rebecca Cattermole of Tanfi eld Chambers provides a refresher on the ins and outs of this increasingly important area of practice. This is followed by an article from David Keighley of Herrington Carmichael, who looks at recent changes and signifi cant case law relating to shared ownership leases.

The risks for conveyancers related to money laundering, cyber-crime, and other illegal activities are signifi cant, and the penalties for involvement – knowing or otherwise – can be severe. In the next chapter, director of Oakalls Consultancy and former member of the SRA Policy Team, Tracy Calvert, looks at the headline risks and the legal and conduct duties which are most relevant to the work of conveyancers, outlines the SRA’s

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Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide

expectations in this respect, and provides guidance on practical measures residential property solicitors and departments can take to ensure compliance and reduce risk.

A key focus of the SRA in 2015 has been price transpar-ency, and the regulator recently directed a practice note on this subject to the attention of conveyancers in particular. In the next article, John Coulter of Medway Law looks at how convey-ancing fees have evolved over the last few years, the new tools available such as online calculators, and the requirements of both the SRA and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers in this respect.

While effi ciency and service standards in conveyancing continue to improve, in the face of ever more demanding client expectations, it is clear that client care will be an area of increasing focus for many fi rms. In the fi rst of a series of articles on improving client experience, Jonathan Pearson-Basudev of WTB Solicitors asks how often you put yourself in your client’s shoes and offers some practical pointers on providing the kind of service that you might like to receive in their position.

This is followed by an article in which Ben Harris, marketing director at TM Group, shares original research which provides insight into the conveyancing process from the client’s point of view, from choosing a conveyancer through to the follow-up received. He considers what can be learned from the research about providing better service, and ultimately generating more new business.

This theme is continued in an article from Douglas McPherson, director of Size 10½ Boots, who explains why ‘service and visibility’ are the key to boosting your marketing and business development efforts. He outlines practical steps property solicitors can take to ensure repeat work and client referrals, improve cross-selling, and generate more work from their professional contacts (without the fees).

In the concluding chapter, Paul Hajek of Clutton Cox looks to the future and considers what it will take for a high street fi rm to survive and thrive in ‘the brave new digital and connected

Residential_Property_Practice_2015_B.indd ixResidential_Property_Practice_2015_B.indd ix 08/12/2015 11:0608/12/2015 11:06

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Executive summary

world’ and a market that is increasingly dominated by volume conveyancers. He explains how leveraging the best technology available can help fi rms to get closer to their clients, understand their needs better, and improve the overall client experience.

Owning a home is an aspiration for many people, and convey-ancers have charge of one of the biggest – and most stressful – events in many people’s lives. As the house buying process evolves, driven by technology, there are signifi cant opportunities for property fi rms and departments to not only improve how they deliver services from a costs and effi ciency point of view, but also to do more to meet and exceed client expectations. This expert guide provides essential industry insight and practical advice to help them to do just that.

References1. SearchFlow, ‘Conveyancer Sentiment Survey’, January–May 2015.

xi

Sara Benbow is a property and commercial specialist who is equally at home in a domestic or an international context. She brings particular expertise to matters involving insolvency, issues arising in relation to property development, and disputes concerning ownership of and rights in land.

Sara manages to combine a friendly and accessible approach with a keen practical and business sense, regularly managing complex factual and legal disputes while tailoring her legal advice to the reality of the client’s situation and coming up with inventive solutions. As well as being in demand as a specialist adviser, she is particularly highly regarded as an advocate whether in court, arbitration, planning hearings, or before the various specialist property and commercial tribunals.

Sara is also a qualifi ed mediator, and conducts mediations in most types of property, inheritance, or business dispute. She has considerable experience and an impressive rate of success as a mediator and as a mediation-advocate.

Rebecca Cattermole is a barrister at Tanfi eld Chambers specialising in property and landlord and tenant (commercial and residential) and has extensive experience of housing work in the context of large scale developments.

Rebecca has a particular interest in shared ownership leases having represented the landlord in Catalyst Communities Housing Association v Hart, Ref: HC0902515, ChD, a case concerning the status of a shared ownership lease and its interrelationship with the Human Rights Act 1998.

She has been ranked as a leading junior in social housing by Chambers UK since 2005 and by Legal 500, in two categories:

About the authors

xii

About the authors

property litigation and social housing. She is described as ‘A very experienced dilapidations barrister’ Legal 500 2015 (Property Litigation) and ‘Peerless in housing law’ Legal 500 2015 (Social Housing). Her most recent recommendation in Chambers UK 2016 says: ‘An intelligent and persuasive advocate… She has an immense knowledge and expertise. She’s thorough and will fi ght for you in court.’

Rebecca is one of the authors of Service Charges and Management: Law and Practice, 3rd edition (Sweet & Maxwell), and co-author of two editions of Anti-Social Behaviour and Disorder: Powers and Remedies (Sweet & Maxwell). She was also a contributor to the 5th edition of Halsbury’s Laws of England, Local Government Law, Vol. 69 (2009) and housing and landlord and tenant contributor for Jowitts’s Dictionary of English Law.

Tracey Calvert is a lawyer who has worked in the law since 1985. She initially worked in a niche shipping law practice in the City of London, specialising in non-contentious work, and was then employed by a local authority in Worcestershire before joining the Law Society in 1997. Tracey was recruited as an ethics adviser in the Professional Ethics guidance team and became a senior ethics adviser in 2003. Her responsibilities in this role included the training and quality assurance of this highly popular and successful team, which provided confi dential guidance to members of the profession on all aspects of conduct.

Tracey has also accepted secondments to the Law Society/SRA professional indemnity team and as a manager of the casework and operational policy team, dealing with admission, character, and suitability issues. In 2009, she took up her fi nal role within the SRA, joining the policy team. She was a member of a very small team which drafted the SRA Handbook and her particular responsibilities were in respect of the new SRA Code of Conduct and the rules in the ‘Specialist Services’ section of the Handbook.

Tracey’s particular interests are conduct, equality and diver-sity development, fi nancial services, and anti-money laundering

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Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide

policy. During her time at the SRA she has drafted many rules, guidance, and articles, and has engaged in many stakeholder activities, both generally and in respect of the SRA Handbook.

Tracey is the director of Oakalls Consultancy Limited which provides regulatory compliance services to individuals and enti-ties regulated by the SRA. She lectures on professional conduct, fi nancial services, and anti-money laundering policies, and also provides compliance training and writes on compliance topics. Tracey can be contacted at: tcalvert@oakallsconsultancy.co.uk.

John Coulter is a solicitor and head of legal practice at Medway Law. He qualifi ed as a solicitor in 2006 specialising in resi-dential and commercial property. He has worked with a broad range of clients dealing with portfolios of buy to let properties, social housing, and large scale residential developments for a recognised developer. While practising as a solicitor, John also spent two years writing for Solicitors Journal on the topic of good conveyancing practice.

Eddie Goldsmith is a founding partner in Goldsmith Williams Solicitors and former president of the Liverpool Law Society. He is currently the chairman of the Conveyancing Association (CA). In this position, Eddie has driven some of the CA’s most ambitious and effective campaigns to date, including most recently the CA’s Leasehold Campaign and the CA’s Lender Engagement Campaign. Having practised conveyancing for over 30 years, Eddie co-founded Goldsmith Williams in 1984. He is a recognised and widely respected specialist and speaker in his fi eld and regularly writes columns for various national property, legal, and business publications and online blogs.

Paul Hajek has been a solicitor for over 32 years. He has run multi-award-winning Clutton Cox Limited (www.cluttoncox.co.uk), a high street practice in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, since 1985. Paul was the fi rst solicitor to blog on conveyancing back in 2008. He has published more than 1,000 blogs since

xiv

About the authors

then. He published his fi rst book on conveyancing in May 2012, which is available on Amazon, but alas not yet in any good bookshop. The second edition will be published in late 2016. Paul has spoken extensively at conferences and appeared on Radio 4 and the BBC speaking on conveyancing related issues. You can follow Paul on Twitter (mobile.twitter.com/paulhajek) and link with him on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hajek) or Google+ (plus.google.com/+PaulHajek/posts).

Ben Harris joined TM Group as a director in 2012, having previously headed up the UK’s largest estate agency network, where he was heavily involved in the industry’s efforts to improve the home-moving process and increase overall trans-actional transparency for all involved. Ben has over 20 years of experience in the property market, working with conveyancers, lenders, and estate agents.

Recognised as one of the most infl uential online property experts, Ben has a particular passion for how fi rms can be more effective in serving their customers’ needs and streamlining internal processes by using technology.

David Keighley is head of residential conveyancing at Herrington Carmichael LLP, advising clients on all aspects of buying, selling, mortgaging, and leasing residential and shared ownership property. Having dealt with residential property since 1977, and having qualifi ed as a solicitor in 1982, David has over 35 years of experience in residential property transactions.

David has a renowned knowledge of shared ownership trans-actions (where the owner buys a percentage of the property and rents the remaining percentage from a housing association) and of transactions funded by the government-backed HomeBuy scheme.

David’s reputation and experience in residential property matters is demonstrated by his regular presentations at seminars nationwide, providing solicitors and their staff with practical guidance on many aspects of conveyancing. He has also been

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Residential Property Practice: An Expert Guide

commissioned by the Law Society and others to contribute arti-cles to specialist publications. Memberships include The Law Society, The Surrey Law Society, and the Solicitors Benevolent Association and the Institute of Directors.

Douglas McPherson has worked with professional services fi rms for over 20 years, fi rst as head of sales and marketing for Intellectual Property Publishing, then as the commercial director of Lloyds of London’s Marine Intelligence Unit. Doug is now a director of Size 10½ Boots, a business development agency that works solely with professional services fi rms.

Size 10½ Boots work with law fi rms, patent and trade mark attorneys, chambers, and accountancy practices all over the UK. They combine their knowledge of the professional services market and direct in-house experience with the sales and marketing skills Doug and his partner Bernard Savage acquired from past roles in international blue chip sales-led organisa-tions. In addition to providing strategic marketing advice, Size 10½ Boots provide a range of more tactical support, including training and personal coaching for professionals at all levels, copywriting and design services, and targeted PR support.

Doug is a regular contributor to a range of publications in addition to Solicitors Journal, including Managing Partner, Private Client Adviser, Intellectual Property, The Patent Lawyer, and The Barrister.

Jonathan Pearson-Basudev has spent many years refi ning his own successful, customer service driven approach to law. Obtaining his law degree at Wolverhampton University before completing the Legal Practice Course at Nottingham Law School, Jonathan qualifi ed as a chartered legal executive in early 2013. At the start of his career Jonathan worked in property departments within prominent London law fi rms and later within a Cheshire based fi rm working with high net worth individuals, sports personalities, and investors. It was in this fi rm that Jonathan started to hone his approach to practising

xvi

About the authors

law with a ‘client comes fi rst’ attitude. Utilising his experience Jonathan then joined WTB Solicitors at the end of 2013. In his current role Jonathan advises a wide range of residential and commercial clients across the UK offering bespoke and stream-lined solutions. Due to his unique approach Jonathan now enjoys a high client referral rate within a burgeoning property department.

David Smith is a partner with Anthony Gold Solicitors in London. He specialises in residential landlord and tenant law and particularly in new areas of law. He is known for his work on the Housing Act 2004 on which he wrote one of the fi rst books. David has worked on landlord and tenant matters in the Civil and Criminal Court and the Tribunals at all levels. David is also the policy director for the Residential Landlord’s Association and regularly gives evidence before Parliamentary Committees and in the Devolved Assemblies.

Belinda Walkinshaw is a partner in SA Law’s Property Litigation Team. Belinda has over 20 years’ experience in complex property issues, and has successfully represented clients in property transactions and in litigation that led to reported decisions ranging from completion of sale and purchase transactions (Carne v Debono); overriding inter-ests (Equity & Law v Prestidge); conditions precedent and set off in recovery of service charges (Bluestorm Limited v Portvale Holdings Limited); subletting of commercial premises without the landlord’s consent (Crestfort v Tesco Stores Ltd); and construction and enforcement of covenants breached by sub-tenants (Roadside Group Limited v Zara Commercial Ltd.). Belinda is a committee member of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) and has developed a special interest in issues relating to long residential leases and leasehold property management.