We help people to live safely in their homes. 

We specialise in cases in cases involving homelessness, possession, and eviction.

We provide support to other agencies even when we cannot take on the case. That support may be telephone advice to assist the referral agency in resolving the problem, or help in finding other sources of advice from groups such as the Southwark Housing Lawyers Group, the Lewisham Housing Lawyers Group or the Housing and Immigration Group.

Help For People Facing Eviction

Please contact us if you live in Southwark, Lambeth or Lewisham and your landlord is taking you to court to evict you.

If you are on a low income or on benefits, you may be able to get Legal Aid.

You can call our possession enquiry line on 0203 084 5546.

Fridays, 10am – 12pm

Please have your court papers available when you call us

Please complete an enquiry form by clicking this link.

Second Tier Advice Service

We provide one-off telephone advice about housing issues that are affecting your clients.

This service is for council workers, charities, community groups and not for profit organisations in or connected to the London Borough of Southwark.

Note that this service is available only to voluntary sector organisations and professional referrers.  Members of the public should contact our Eviction Helpline above. 

We can advise on:

  • Possession proceedings and evictions
  • Allocations
  • Illegal eviction
  • Homelessness
  • Accommodation issues surrounding homelessness
  • Disrepair

Please email us at housingsecondtier@southwarklawcentre.org.uk or complete our referral form below

Please complete a second tier advice referral form by clicking this link.

Examples of cases we may take on

  • Possession cases including applications to suspend a Warrant
  • Unfavourable decisions made against a homeless applicant, including reviews and appeals
  • Landlord harassment, and unlawful evictions
  • Clients who are without any or any adequate accommodation and do not have access to mainstream housing for example because of their immigration status

Cases that we cannot deal with

  • Landlords – We do not advise Landlords.
  • Right to Buy
  • Leaseholders
  • Mortgage possession cases
  • Most neighbour disputes: but we may act for clients who need to be rehoused because of harassment

Southwark Law Centre Housing Projects

Migrant Housing project.

Trust for London provides funding to help us take cases for vulnerable migrants including people with No Recourse to Public Funds

Private Renters Project

We have funding from Impact on Urban Health to provide legal advice for private tenants with issues such as illegal eviction and disrepair.

Southwark Homeless Forum

We work in partnership with Southwark council to facilitate meetings of agencies working to prevent homelessness

Southwark Private Renters Support

Southwark Private Renters Support is a service designed to help people who are renting privately in the borough.  It was  set up by Citizens Advice Southwark in partnership with Southwark Law Centre.

If you are renting privately in Southwark and want to learn more about the support on offer, or join the Private Renters Support Southwark network of private renters, please visit https://southwarkprivaterenters.org.uk/

Our Organisation

We are a registered charity and are governed by a trustee board of local residents.
Please click here to view our 2022/2023 Annual Report
Please click here to view our Audited Reports for the Year Ended March 31st, 2023
To view our Privacy Policy click here.
Company registration number: 1418763 • Charity registration number: 277927
IAA reference is N201000009