Housing / Landlord & Tenant
If you face being thrown out of your house...
If your landlord / mortgage company is threatening to repossess your house a Court Order must be obtained and a strict procedure followed before they can do so. You may be facing action due to non-payment of rent or mortgage (see also Debt) or for breach of your tenancy agreement for such allegations as nuisance, annoyance or using the property for illegal or immoral purposes.
In all cases where money is owed, you may be eligible for benefits such as Housing Benefit and / or Income Support, and we can advise you accordingly. Information on Welfare Benefits is available here.
We can also assist in defending any proceedings against you, for example checking that you have received the correct Notice to Quit, liasing with your landlord / mortgage company and filing a defence on your behalf, if appropriate.
Legal Help may be available.
IMPORTANT
In no circumstances should you vacate your premises voluntarily because the local authority would have no obligation to re-house you as you will be deemed to have made yourself homeless.
Complaints against Landlords
If you have a complaint against your landlord for defective premises the first step is to contact your Local Authority Housing and/or Environmental Health Departments who may be able to assist. Failing that, we may be able to assist.
If you are being harassed by your landlord, CALL THE POLICE as this is an offence. The Local Authority may also be able to help. We may also be able to obtain an Injunction on your behalf.
My Landlord won't return my deposit
A deposit is usually paid in addition to rent to cover any damage to the property or unpaid rent which is outstanding when you vacate the property. If the Landlord refuses to return the deposit without good reason you may need to take action in the Small Claims Court to recover all or part of the deposit. The charity Shelter provide a very useful website including informative leaflets and advice on this and a range of other housing matters; their website is at www.shelternet.org.uk
Service Charges Disputes
Leaseholders often have concerns about the costs of services and the standards of management and maintenance provided by the landlord. The law provides two rights for leasehold tenants:-
- to appoint a surveyor to advise on service charges. This is only available to recognised tenants' associations; and
- to carry out a management audit. This is available for individual leasehold tenants where theirs is the only dwelling (or one of two) in a building or where there are not less than two thirds of the tenants acting together.
These rights do not provide any specific remedy to problems in themselves but provide tenants with information:-
- as a general check on management standards and procedures;
- as a check or audit of the service charge accounts;
- to enforce covenants in the lease regarding management service and repairs;
- to ensure further compliance with approved codes of management practice; and
- to provide evidence for challenging service charges at a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
Leasehold Valuation Tribunals provide an accessible and informal means of resolution of disputes involving residential leasehold property. The Tribunals are able to determine if service charges are reasonable, resolve disputes relating to insurance and, if appropriate, make an order appointing a manager. The fee for an application is up to £500.00.
For further details see the Leasehold Advisory Service website at www.lease-advice.org/
For Landlords...
We can prepare Tenancy Agreements for you. We normally recommend an Assured Shorthold which will cost you £58.75 including VAT.
Problems with tenants...
You may have problems with a tenant such as:-
- not paying the rent or who is consistently late in paying;
- not vacating the premises at the end of his tenancy;
- breaching the tenancy agreement by being a nuisance to other tenants (eg. playing loud music) or using the premises for an illegal or immoral purpose (eg. prostitution).
You can apply to a Court to have the tenant thrown out. Before any Court Proceedings start, an appropriate Notice to Quit / Notice Seeking Possession must be served on the tenant. The Court Proceedings cannot start until a certain period after the notice (the period varies depending on the type of breach). We can assist with both the Notice and the Court Proceedings.
