Susan Bright
Biography
Sue teaches land law, contract law, regulation, and housing and human rights. She has been teaching at Oxford University since 1992, after a period as a solicitor in London and teaching at Essex University. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Fellow of the South African Research Chair in Property Law, and an academic member of the Chancery Bar Association, Property Bar Association and Property Litigation Association.
Much of her recent and ongoing research is concerned with complexities stemming from multi-owned property. This includes exploring the fire safety problems emerging after the tragic events of Grenfell, particularly in relation to blocks of flats, and she has set up a blog for discussion of these issues, as well as for conversations around housing and law more generally. She is also looking at what is popularly referred to as 'Fleecehold and the Leasehold Scandal' in order to understand the legal tools used to impose positive obligations on home owners in shared spaces.
One area she has investigated is environmental performance and the built environment. Her work includes a multi-disciplinary project exploring the challenges in energy upgrades for residential leasehold property (flats). In the commercial sector she has particular expertise on ‘green leases’. During 2014-2016 she was a member of an interdisciplinary team on an EPSRC funded project called Wicked, that examines Energy Management in the Retail Sector.
With Dr Lisa Whitehouse Sue has also examined the housing possession process. Their most recent work, with pyschologist Professor Mandeep Dhami, has enabled them to explore how decision-making in possession cases, can be explained with reference to psychology and the behavioural sciences.
The eclectic nature of her research has led to Sue co-editing, with Professor Sarah Blandy, Researching Property Law (Palgrave, 2015) which explores different approaches to scholarship. She is also involved in a project that explores the dynamics of enduring property relationships.
A selection of Sue's papers can be accessed on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=529157.
Featured Publications
Publications
Bright S, “Far from Privatopia: Private Residential Estates in England and Wales”
Bright S, “Tower Block Refurbishment, Flats, and Understandings of Ownership” [2021] JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY
Bright S, “Tower Block Refurbishment, Flats and Understandings of Ownership” (2021) 48 Journal of Law and Society 524
Bright S, “Building Safety Bill – the Occupation Phase of Residential Buildings Explained” (2021) 24 Journal of Housing Law 54
Bright S and Morrison P, “Varying Long Residential Leases: When, Why and Reform” (2019) 2019 Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 332
Bright S and Maxwell D, “Human Rights and State Accountability for Fire Safety in Blocks of Flats” (2019) 5 Queen Mary Human Rights Law Review
Whitehouse L, Bright S and Dhami M, “Improving Procedural Fairness in Housing Possession Cases” (2019) 38 Civil Justice Quarterly 351
Bright S, Weatherall D and Willis R, “Exploring the Complexities of Energy Retrofit in Mixed Tenure Social Housing: A Case Study from England, UK” (2018) 12 Energy Efficiency 157
Blandy S, Bright S and Nield S, “The Dynamics of Enduring Property Relationships in Land” (2018) 81 Modern Law Review 85
Weatherall D, McCarthy F and Bright S, “Property Law As a Barrier to Energy Upgrades in Multi-Owned Properties: Insights from a Study of England and Scotland” (2017) 11 Energy Efficiency 1641
Bright S and Weatherall D, “Framing and Mapping Building Governance Barriers to Energy Upgrades in Flats” (2017) 29 Journal of Environmental Law 203
Janda K, Bright S, Patrick J, Wilkinson S and Dixon T, “The Evolution of Green Leases: Towards Inter-Organizational Environmental Governance” [2016] Building Research and Information: the international journal of research, development and demonstration
Patrick J and Bright S, “WICKED Insights into the Role of Green Leases” (2016) 2016 Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 264
Whitehouse L and Bright S, “The Empirical Approach to Research in Property Law” (2014) 3 Property Law Review 176
Blandy S and Bright S, “Editors’ Introduction and Survey Findings, Research Methods in Property Law” (2014) 3 Property Law Review 139
Bright S and Whitehouse L, “Information, Advice & Representation in Housing Possession Cases” [2014] Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper
Bright S and Dixie H, “
Evidence
of
Green
Leases
in
England
and
Wales” (2014) 6 International Journal of Law in the Built Environment 6
Roussac C and Bright S, “Improving Environmental Performance through Innovative Commercial Leasing: An Australian Case Study” (2012) 4 International Journal of Law in the Built Environment 44713
Bright S, “The Uncertainty of Certainty in Leases” (2012) 128 LQR 336
Bright S, “Green Commercial Leases: Bringing Together Practice and Theory” [2012] Property Law Review 44621
Axon C, Bright S, Dixon T, Janda K, Kolokotroni M and Bright S, “Building Communities: Reducing Energy Use in Tenanted Commercial Property” (2012) 40 BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION 461
Bright S and Hopkins N, “
Home,
Meaning
and
Identity:
Learning
from
the
English
Model
of
Shared
Ownership” (2011) 28 Housing, Theory and Society 377
Bright S and Hopkins N, “Evaluating Legal Models of Affordable Home Ownership in England”
Bright S, “Occupation Rents and TLATA: From Property to Welfare?” (2011) 73 Conveyancer
Bright S, “Carbon Reduction Commitment and Commercial Leases” (2011) 74 The Conveyancer
Bright S and Bettle J, “Ashby V Kilduff – a Modern Day Morality Tale?” (2011) 41 Family Law 168
Bright S, “
Carbon
Reduction
and
Commercial
Leases
in
the
UK” (2010) 2 International Journal of Law in the Built Environment 218
Bright S, “The Limits of Contractual Freedom in English Commercial Leases”
Bright S, “Dispossession for Arrears: The Weight of Home”
Bright S and Hopkins N, “Low Cost Home Ownership: Legal Issues of the Shared Ownership Lease” (2009) 73 Conveyancer 337
Bright S, “Occupation Rents and the Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996: From Property to Welfare?” (2009) 73 Conveyancer 378
Hinnells M, Bright S, Langley A, Woodford L and Schiellerup P, “The Greening of Commercial Leases” (2008) 26 Journal of Property Investment and Finance 541
Bright S, “Green Leases” (2008) 158 New Law Journal 1135
Bright S, “To the Rescue” [2008] ROOF 40
Bright S, “Drafting Green Leases” (2008) 72 Conveyancer 498
Bright S, “Street V Mountford Revisited”
Bright S, “Tolerated Trespass or A New Tenancy?” (2006) 122 Law Quarterly Review 48
Bright S, “Article 8 Again in the House Of Lords: Kay V Lambeth; Leeds CC V Price” (2006) 70 Conveyancer 294
Bright S, “Eviction for Anti-Social Behaviour” (2006) 70 Conveyancer 85
Bright S, “Protecting the Small Business Tenant” (2006) 70 Conveyancer 137
Bright S and McFarlane B, “Proprietary Estoppel and Property Rights” (2005) 64 Cambridge Law Journal 449
Bright S, “Managing or Leasing?” (2005) 2005 Conveyancer 352
Bright S, “Tolerated Trespass and Stock Transfer” (2005) 2005 (8) Journal of Housing Law 15
Bright S and McFarlane B, “Personal Liability in Proprietary Estoppel” (2005) 69 The Conveyancer 14
Bright S, “Procuring the Notice to Quit: A Public Law Challenge” (2005) 8 Journal of Housing Law 44779
Bright S, “Ending Tenancies by Notice to Quit: The Human Rights Challenge” (2004) 120 LQR 398
Bright S, “Unfair Terms and Unfair Allocations” (2004) 2004 Journal of Housing Law 40
Bright S, “Unfair Contract Terms and Local Authority Tenancies” [2004] Journal of Housing Law ’2
Bright S, “The Concept of the Tolerated Trespasser” (2003) 119(Jul) Law Quarterly Review 509
Bright S, “Landowners Responsibility in Nuisance for Anti-Social Behaviour” (2003) 67 Conveyancer 171
Bright S and Bakalis C, “Anti-Social Behaviour: Local Authority Responsibility and the Voice of the Victim” (2003) 2003 CLJ 305
Bright S, “Green Leases – Becoming More Usual?” [2002] Estates Gazette
Bright S, “Avoiding Tenancy Legislation: Sham and Contracting Out Revisited” (2002) 2002 CLJ 146
Bright S, “Estate Rent Charges and Reasonableness” (2002) 66 Conveyancer 507
Bright S, “Avoiding Tenancy Legislation: Sham and Contracting Out Revisited” (2002) 2002 CLJ 146
Bright S, “Liability for the Bad Behaviour of Others” (2001) 21 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 311
Bright S, “TEST” TEST
Bright S and Blandy S, Researching Property Law (Palgrave 2015)
Bright S, Landlord and Tenant Law in Context (Hart Pub Limited 2007)
Bright S, Landlord and Tenant Law (Hart Publishing 2006)
Bright S, Landlord and Tenant Law. Past, Present and Future. (Hart 2006)
Blandy S, Nield S and Bright S, “Real Property on the Ground: The Law of People and Place’” in H Dagan and B Zipursky (eds.), Research Handbook on Private Law Theories (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd 2020)
McCarthy F, Bright S and Fawcett T, “Building Governance and Energy Efficiency: Mapping the Interdisciplinary Challenge”, Advancing Energy Policy: Lessons on the Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (2018)
Janda K, Bright S, Patrick J, Wilkinson S and Dixon T, “The Evolution of Green Leases: Towards Inter-Organizational Environmental Governance” in R Lorch, J Laubscher, E Chan and H Visscher (eds.), Building Governance and Climate Change (Routledge 2018)
Bright S, Patrick J and janda K, “Energy Management, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, and the Diversity of ‘green lease’ Clauses” in S Wilkinson, N Miller, T Dixon and S Sayce (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Real Estate (Routledge 2017)
Bright S and Whitehouse L, “The Opportunities and Challenges of Empirical Work: Housing Possession in Theory and in Practice” in B Akkermans, E Marais and E Ramaekers (eds.), Property Law Perspectives II (Intersentia Uitgevers N V 2014)
Bright S, “Manchester City Council V Pinnock” in N Gravells (ed.), Landmark Cases in Land Law (Hart Pub Limited 2013)
Bright S, Glover H and Adams-Prassl J, “Tenancy Agreements” in E Simpson and M Stewart (eds.), Sham Transactions (OUP 2013)
Bright S, Hopkins N and Macklam N, “Owning Part But Losing All: Using Human Rights to Protect Home Ownership” in N Hopkins (ed.), Modern Studies in Property Law (Hart Pub Limited 2013)
Bright S, “Dispossession for Arrears: The Weight of Home in English Law” in L Fox O’Mahony and J A Sweeney (eds.), The Idea of Home in law: Displacement and Dispossession (Ashgate 2010)
Bright S, “Unfairness and the Consumer Contract Regulations” in A Burrows and E Peel (eds.), Contract Terms (Hart 2007)
Granell R, Wallom D, Janda K, Patrick J and Bright S, “Quantifying the Impact of Green Leasing on Energy Use in a Retail Portfolio: Limits to Big Data Analytics”, ECEEE Summer Study 2017 (European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy 2017)
Bright S, Weatherall D and Willis R, “A Case Study of Deep Retrofit in Mixed Tenure (rented and Owned) UK Social Apartment Blocks” (ECEEE Summer Study 2017 2017)
Bright S, Patrick J, Janda K, Thomas B, Bailey E, Dixon T and Wilkinson S, “The Evolution of Greener Leasing Practices in Australia and England” (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors 2015)
Janda K, Layberry R, Patrick J, Granell R, Wallom D and Bright S, “A WICKED Approach to Retail Sector Energy Management”, First Fuel Now (European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy 2015)