Anna Bennett

Partner

Areas of Expertise

Anna advises and represents clients on all areas of housing management and property litigation, from nuisance, subletting and bogus succession claims, through to disrepair cases and wider leasehold and boundary disputes.

Outside of litigation, Anna also regularly carries out and reviews tenancies, policies and procedure for her clients.

Anna has a particular interest in working with Housing Co-operatives and the challenges faced by those clients.

Anna is also the main point of contact for work we do for the Private Rented Sector.

Experience

Before converting to law, Anna worked for a number of charities and for Visa International. Whilst studying the BVC and whilst working at Lovells, Anna volunteered at Battersea Citizens Advice Bureau, at FRU (the Free Representation Unit) and as a Duty Solicitor at Bow County Court on a weekly basis.

Publications

Anna regularly writes for HM Brief. She has further published articles in Solicitors Journal and more recently for Local Government Lawyer.

Conferences

Anna regularly presents Webinars for clients.

Education

Anna originally trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 2005 before converting and becoming a Solicitor in 2008.

Personal

Anna’s outside life mostly consists of keeping young children entertained, where she can she likes visiting new restaurants and bars with friends. She enjoys knitting and gardening, with mixed results at times.

Qualifications

Anna originally trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 2005 before converting and becoming a Solicitor in 2008.

Professional Memberships

British Property Federation

Women in Social Housing

Notable Cases

Anna acted for Network Homes, in relation to the case of Isaac Smith -v- Network Homes Limited [2022] EWCA Civ 1631, one of three conjoined Appeals (also known as Christopher Lovett -v- Wigan Borough Council and Gemma Hopkins -v- Optivo), where the Court of Appeal gave useful sentencing guidance in civil contempt proceedings. Mr Smith appealed against a 12-week suspended sentence in respect of the breach of an Injunction. Whilst Mr Smith’s submissions were rejected, the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence from a 12-week suspended custodial sentence to a 4-week suspended custodial sentence. Network were awarded 50% of their costs.

Anna acted for BPHA in the case of (Declan Molloy v BPHA Limited [2021] EWCA Civ 1035) in relation to committal proceedings relating to a breach of an injunction which prohibited racist, offensive and abusive language and/or actions. The breach was proven by CCTV and despite creative and technical defences based on Article 8 and right to a private life, our client was successful in resisting all legal challenges and appeals up to the Court of Appeal. The case is one of the leading cases on the use of CCTV evidence in committal proceedings.