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Thursday 3rd August 2017
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Bio
With over 30 years of extensive 360° experience in the Private Rented Sector, I bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. My career has encompassed roles from Housing Law Caseworker at a national solicitor firm to Head of Property and Asset Management in the City. I have had the privilege of managing properties for high-profile clients, including premiership footballers, actors, and A-list comedians.
I successfully founded and ran a Lettings and Property Management company, building an impressive portfolio of over 500 single-let properties. After selling the business, I transitioned to the third sector, providing specialist housing and homelessness law advice for Citizens Advice, and working with a local homeless charity to optimize their mixed property portfolio and lease options.
Currently, I serve as a board member on the Zoopla Lettings Advisory Board and act as a judge for several industry award ceremonies. I am also a frequent property commentator in the media. In addition, I am a qualified property and civil mediator with over 600 mediations to my credit, and a registered expert witness for the courts.
13:37 PM, 24th June 2024, About A week ago
Hi Mike, under deposit protection regulations, you are only legally responsible for protecting the deposit when you Receive it.
So the non-protection is the current LL/agents problem.
When you purchase the property you inherit the existing AST with all its terms and conditions, there is no legal obligation to issue a new one, nor does the tenant have to sign it.
You or your solicitor do have to issue S3 &s48 notices on your new tenants to show you are the new landlord and that rent is now due to you etc..
Your legal obligation for the deposit starts when it is transferred to you (you receive it) you then have the 30days to protect and issue the tenant with the certificate and prescribed information... Read More
8:03 AM, 18th June 2024, About 2 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by peter kessler at 17/06/2024 - 16:28
... Read More
16:17 PM, 17th June 2024, About 2 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by PH at 17/06/2024 - 15:21
That is one of the reasons why an immediate ban of s21 wouldn’t be legally possible, because landlords would need to be able to regain possession for reasons other than the tenant breaching the tenancy.
In the now defunked Renters Reform Bill we did see additional s8 grounds allowing the landlord to sell or move back in.
It would be anticipated that Civil servants who write the Bills will bring these concerns forward.
There is a small possibility that if Labour get in they could issue a monetorium on issuing section 21 as secondary legislation, similar to what we saw during covid, but this can only be temporary... Read More
11:43 AM, 17th June 2024, About 2 weeks ago
Hi JB, if Labour do get into power they will not be able to abolish s21 with immediate effect as they are claiming.
All legislation has a process that needs to be followed before it becomes law
It must pass through both Houses and receive Royal Ascent, this won’t happen in 1 day
Now, we saw during covid how quickly laws can be passed, but that’s when all parties and houses agree and have no amendments
Abolishing s21 is not as simple as just issuing a ban and that’s that.
It has a knock on effect which will need consideration... Read More
12:36 PM, 10th March 2020, About 4 years ago
As the other replies have said, there is more to this situation than just a blanket ban on those in receipt of benefits.
If you have had your tenant for 5yrs, they keep the property in good nick, they don’t bother you with petty maintenance issues, have paid the rent and are friendly with the neighbours.
Why would you serve notice if their source of income changes?
Also with UC, how would you know the tenant now gets benefits?
I’m struggling to see the logic in the original post.
What if said tenant is on UC but between jobs and by the time the S21 expires they have a job again
Personally as a tenant I would not want to continue with a landlord like that and would be looking to move ASAP.
Remember that being a landlord is a business and tenants are your customers. Businesses work with their customers not against them... Read More
16:55 PM, 20th February 2020, About 4 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Rob Crawford at 20/02/2020 - 14:23
Live in tenant, so can’t be AST, Tenant Fee Ban doesn’t apply here... Read More
16:44 PM, 3rd February 2020, About 4 years ago
Do you need the higher rated EPC so that you can rent it out?
A property with a G rating can still be used as a rental property it just needs to get an exemption.
There are a number of exemptions, if you go to the Gov website it will give you these and how to apply for the exemption, these usually last 5 yrs.... Read More
17:31 PM, 27th January 2020, About 4 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Dave Walmsley at 27/01/2020 - 14:49
Having read the draft bill, it does state the commencement date is April 2020 but effects tenancies from July 2020.
The draft bill is full of errors as it then goes on the day that the law will effect all tenancies on 1st April 2021, which doesn’t support its enforcement date.
Let’s hope they get it right before it gets Royal Ascent... Read More
16:49 PM, 23rd January 2020, About 4 years ago
The date the AST was signed is a bit of a red herring as it’s the tenancy start date that is important.
From the classes you have posted here this looks like a very old AST which the LL is just reusing yr in yr and wouldn’t conform to current regs.
If the tenancy started 1/9/19 then if there was a BC the S21 could be served at month 4 to active at month 6, but as Neil has said the BC must be balanced and work for both parties.
I do not believe this is a valid BC and if a S21 has been served then the earliest it can be acted on is 31/8/20 which would render it over 6mo this old and therefore invalid... Read More
16:49 PM, 7th January 2020, About 5 years ago
Usually for someone to be classed as in occupation they need to be using the property as their main and principle home.
If the boyfriend has another property that he has a tenancy for, then I would say he is a guest of the girl not an occupier.
In law there is no legal stipulation on how many night equates to occupation as this still is determined by the occupiers tenure.
He is not paying rent and not using the property as his home.
So I would say not an HMO... Read More
9:50 AM, 29th May 2019, About 5 years ago
I understand the new regulations for correct service of a S21 (form6a) does require the most up to date version of the How to rent guide to have been issued.
Interestingly legislation supporting the new S21 service and validity contradicts existing legislation and this has made for many lost case at court... Read More
10:27 AM, 4th February 2019, About 5 years ago
Your tenant can appeal the outright possession if they believe the S21 was not served correctly for some reason.
They also appeal if the court made an error on the original possession order, this is called the slip rule.
A tenant can also request a hearing for a S21 possession to request an extention of the evict term of up to 42 days.
The court should have provided you with your tenants defence, contact the court and ask for the court bundle... Read More