Practice Summary

Rea practises public and property law, specialising in housing. She has particular experience in defending possession proceedings and challenging the decisions of local authorities in homelessness and judicial review proceedings. She has an expert understanding of the Equality Act 2010, and represents disabled clients and protected parties often with instructions from the Official Solicitor. 

Rea contributes regularly to Discrimination Law’s Briefings, she is the first writer for the Housing Law case reports and was the Assistant Editor of the Encylopedia of Housing Law from October 2017 to March 2019. She addressed the Human Rights Lawyers Association on the interface between religious freedom and other rights in respect of R (Z and another) v (1) Hackney LBC and (2) Agudas Israel Housing Association [2020] UKSC 40, a case in which she was junior counsel for the successful second respondent in the Divisional Court, the Court of Appeal and recently in the Supreme Court. 

Rea has a growing appellate practice and experience representing clients in the High Court and Tribunals. She appears in judicial review, landlord and tenant, leasehold disputes, forfeiture and real property claims, regulatory matters, injunction proceedings and unlawful evictions. Her specialist cases include adverse possession, rent repayment order claims and TOLATA. 

She has advised in respect of complex chain of title disputes, succession, tenancies by surrender and re-grant, easements, trespass, derogation from grant and estoppel. She has experience in assisting local authorities on business tenancies and in leasehold matters and has a particularly keen interest in cases that combine property and public law. 

Rea appears as an advocate at the High Court “applications" Court 37 and accepts instructions from Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro-Bono Unit). 

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