New landlord electrical safety regulations means that private sector landlords will have to carry out mandatory five-year electrical safety checks to avoid facing fines – but non-compliance will not invalidate a Section 21 Notice or be a barrier to possession.
Two new pre-action protocols were introduced on 13 January 2020. These were a new and revised pre-action protocol for possession claims by social housing landlords and a new pre-action protocol for housing condition cases in England. The new Pre-Action Housing Condition Protocol brings small changes to fully incorporate the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act […]
The recent decision in The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v. Vauxhall Motors Ltd [2019] has expanded the Court’s jurisdiction to grant relief from forfeiture to licences deemed to give rise to possessory rights over land. The Facts Vauxhall Motors has a factory at Ellesmore Port, Cheshire, on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal. […]
The High Court has recently confirmed that receivers appointed over individual borrowers can issue possession proceedings against those borrowers. Until now there has been no conclusive authority on this point upon which receivers, lenders and borrowers could rely. Menon v Pask [2019] EWHC 2611 (Ch) The case itself stemmed from familiar facts. Mr and Mrs […]
Hook and another v. Hawkins [2019] UKUT 147 (LC)
To lawfully obtain possession of residential property where the tenant has not voluntarily vacated (or surrendered possession), you will require a Court order granting you possession. If the tenant does not vacate the property on the date provided in that Court order, you will need to instruct a bailiff to attend the property to lawfully […]
One of the principal areas of difficulty that arises for landlords when they seek to follow the s21 procedure to obtain possession of their property is how the deposit has been dealt with at the start of the tenancy agreement.
As was widely-reported and subsequently consulted upon by the Department for Communities and Local Government earlier in the year, the Government’s announcement in its 2016 Autumn Statement that letting agents’ fees would be banned is coming to fruition. 1 November 2017 saw the draft Tenant Fees Bill introduced to Parliament.
From April 2018 it is now a legal requirement for all new private tenancies to be of properties with an EPC rating of E or higher.
Local authorities in England and Wales are able to designate specified areas within their jurisdiction for selective licensing schemes. Landlords need to be aware of and understand their obligations in respect of selective licensing, as if the requirements are not complied with there can be significant consequences.
What is a Section 21 Notice?
If you rent property to a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy agreement and the tenant is in breach of a term of the tenancy agreement, you may be able to serve a notice pursuant to section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (“s8 notice”) requiring possession of the property.
As part of its plans to tackle the UK’s housing crisis the government has of late been concentrating on the private rental sector and is now focussing on the agreements most commonly used by that sector: the assured shorthold tenancy agreement (“AST”).
There are different rules for termination of assured shorthold tenancies granted before 1 October 2015 to those granted after, when seeking to terminate by way of notice pursuant to s21 of the Housing Act 1988, i.e. the contractual term has expired.