Maya Naidoo

Practice

Maya Naidoo practices in the areas of housing, community care, education, local government and family. Maya is public lawyer who is highly committed to representing all her clients as an advocate, negotiator and advisor. Maya started her career as an immigration practitioner and her previous experience of appearing in the Immigration Tribunal, representing vulnerable clients in asylum and immigration appeals and winning cases before a frequently difficult Tribunal, continues to inform her work.

Maya acts in judicial reviews and homelessness appeals and in the area of housing has particular expertise in cases involving issues of eligibility and EU law. She has extensive experience of representing tenants in multi-track possession and injunctive proceedings involving complex issues of capacity, mental health and disability. Maya has acted in unlawful eviction cases both negotiating and winning good awards for her clients. She is experienced in harassment cases involving neighbours and landlords and proceedings brought under the Protection from Harassment Act 1996. Maya has acted in a number of possession cases involving complex issues in relation to the validity of agreements, surrender and termination of tenancy outside the Housing Acts.

In family law Maya represents parents, children and local authorities in private and public law proceedings. She brings to her family practice the advantage of her knowledge of housing law. Maya is an able negotiator and robust advocate, sensitive and judicious when responding to her Tribunal and witnesses. She is highly committed to representing clients within the legal aid system and maintains the highest professional and ethical standard

Background

Maya's South African origins gave rise to an early commitment to human rights. She taught in South Africa in 1995 at a time of critical change and worked as a researcher into South African trade unions and politics. She has worked as an in-house lawyer in an immigration solicitor's office on cases in preparation for the European Court of Human Rights.

As a student she won a number of awards including the Baron Dr Ver Heyden de Lancey Prize (awarded by the Middle Temple for Outstanding results in the Bar exams, 2002); the Cloisters' Prize (for coming first in her year at the College of Law in the Bar exams, 2002); the Graham Turnbull Essay Prize (awarded by the International Human Rights Committee of the Law Society with the essay published in the New Law Journal, 1999); Julia Wood Prize (St Hugh's College Oxford, proxime accesit, 1994). She was a Diplock Scholar at the Middle Temple (1998 and 2001) and received a scholarship to study for her LLM in Bruges.

Notable Cases

Parker v Brent LBC, Central London Civil Justice Centre, 1 August 2008, Legal Action December 2008 (homelessness - eligibility of Polish national based on Article 12 of Regulation 1612/68 and Baumbast - stay granted pending ECJ judgment in Harrow LBC v Ibrahim notwithstanding Respondent's argument the appeal was an abuse of process and should be dismissed for reasons including that the Appellant had not completed 12 months as a registered Accession State national).

Melka v Tower Hamlets LBC, Bow County Court, 7 July 2008, Legal Action December 2008 (homelessness - local connection - there was no rule that interim accommodation out of the borough can never constitute a period of normal residence of the Appellant's own choice for the purposes of the local connection provisions).

Payne v Kingston RLBC, Central London Civil Justice Centre, 3 January 2008, Legal Action March 2008 (homelessness - priority need - failure to give a reasoned assessment of the impact of drug abuse on the appellant's vulnerability).

Publications

Maya has published in The Legal Executive Journal on housing law: 'Slipping into Trespass: tolerated trespass and postponed possession orders', September 2006; 'The Pre-Action Protocol on Rent Arrears', October 2006. She has also published in the New Law Journal, the Times Educational Supplement and in the Journal Multicultural Education.

Training

Maya has delivered training for solicitors on human rights and housing, homelessness, eligibility and possession as well as delivering training for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants on freedom of movement of persons in the EEA.