This is a question to the blog clinic from Elsie (not her real name), who is a landlord in England. Our small letting agent, who has no Terms and Conditions for landlords, behaved so appallingly recently with our rental income that we terminated him/her. A new, professional agent has taken over the management of our 2 rented flats. In the absence of T&Cs, are we legally obliged to pay monthly letting fees/commission for the remaining of the rental periods to the previous one? Answer Its a bit difficult to answer this question as you don’t give any details of what the appalling behaviour ..read more

Our Newsround is here this week, bringing you the latest housing news and more straight to your inbox. Licensing scheme review promises government It is now well known that Jacob Young, the Minister for Levelling Up has promised a review of all local authority licensing schemes. But he has gone further to say that it will also cover all current licensing for HMOs (mandatory and additional) not just selective licensing. This could leave alot of local authorities in limbo who are currently either in the consultation period of a new licensing scheme or about to implement a new licensing scheme or ..read more

When you read about section 21 and its abolition in the press, it all seems to be about tenants’ rights. I wrote about this also here.  Where I discussed how the ever-present prospect of eviction can cause damage to tenants, to society and can encourage criminal landlords. However, there is another problem with section 21.  The cost to Local Authorities of rehousing tenants made homeless under section 21 is causing them acute financial problems. It is indeed a major reason why many of them are issuing Section 114 notices.  Which effectively means that they are bankrupt. This, in ..read more

This is an interview I did with Robin Stewart on 27 February 2024.  Robin is a senior solicitor with Anthony Gold Solicitors. The full interview is published in our Landlord Law Podcast but I am publishing the video version also here in sections. Part 1 is here. In this second part of our interview, we discuss Rent Repayment Orders, which is an area in which Robin specialises. Any landlords faced with an application by their tenants for a Rent Repayment Order can book a telephone advice call with Robin via our Rent Repayment Order Hotline. The post An interview w ..read more

This is a question to the blog clinic from Sally, who is a tenant in England. I will be living in a shared student house, we each have our own bedroom with individual contracts. We require locks on our bedroom doors due to the nature of our studies, which requires expensive IT kit. The landlord states “No” he is not doing this, he wants people to have access to all rooms in case of a fire. The problem is this invalidates our individual insurances, and leaves our kit exposed while out during lectures within the uni buildings. Your information on this is that the landlord SHOULD have locks on t ..read more

Welcome to another Landlord Law Newsround, let’s see what has been trending in the housing news this week. Renters Reform Bill back to the Commons this April It is heavily anticipated that the amended Renters Reform Bill will be read in the House of Commons by mid-April, however many activists are still not happy with the amendments that have been made. Ben Twomey, chief exec of Generation Rent is says Instead of appeasing a few landlords, the government should focus on preventing homelessness. The best ways to do this would be to give renters four months notice rather than two when we are ev ..read more

Here are all our blog posts for March. Friday 1st March Landlord Law Newsround #329 Our first Newsround of March Friday 8th March Landlord Law Newsround #330 Our look into the housing news this week. Monday 11th March An interview with Kate Faulkner Part 6 Listen to the final part of my interview with Kate Can my landlord give me 28 days notice to increase my rent? This was a question asked via my Blog Clinic from a tenant Friday 15th March Landlord Law Newsround #331 Weekly housing news updates direct to your email Monday 18th March Do people living in HMOs have licenses or tenancies? Another ..read more

This is an interview I did with Robin Stewart on 27 February 2024.  Robin is a senior solicitor with Anthony Gold Solicitors. The full interview is published in our Landlord Law Podcast but I am publishing the video version also here in sections. In this first part of our interview, Robin introduces himself, and we discuss the Renters Reform Bill. The post An interview with Robin Stewart of Anthony Gold – Part 1 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog ..read more

The question of landlord access to rented property is a difficult one. Landlords will want, and indeed need, to visit their rented properties from time to time and carry out inspections. For example They are required by law to arrange for gas safety checks and checks of the electrical wiring They need to check that the property is in good condition and, if there are issues, arrange for repair or other works to be done.  Landlords have statutory obligations to keep the property in repair and fit for human habitation. They need to make sure that the property is not being used for illegal p ..read more

Here we are again at another Newsround. We kick off this weeks Newsround with rent controls, as we see that this has been more prevalent in the news lately. Scottish landlords unanimously say ‘no’ to rent controls 90% of landlords in Scotland have rejected rent controls being introduced after the existing emergency legislation of rent controls ends in April. The Scottish government is pushing to deliver a new deal for tenants though a Housing Bill. John Blackwood, Chief Executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords said The prospect of future rent controls is one of the reasons landlords ..read more