Tenant rights I sometimes get contacted by landlords in a panic. “My tenant will have been in the property for three years next month – should I evict her to prevent her having the right to buy me out?” Or sometimes its the tenants, thinking that they are entitled to claim ownership or charge their…
As discussed by Ben in his post on harassment, many landlords are outraged when a TRO tells them their conduct is illegal. “Its my house isn’t it, so why can’t I go in when I like?” is a common response. But what they don’t realise is that it isn’t their house any more. We have…
Landlord s21 notices – are rent arrears necessary? I am prompted to write this Urban Myth post as it seems, from reading comments on the internet, that Ms Butler, the landlord in a tent, may have given this as the reason why she was couldn’t serve a section 21 notice on her tenant. Irrespective of…
Section 21 notices I’m not quite sure where this urban myth comes from, but I have heard it from quite a few people. Section 21, you will remember, is the section of the Housing Act 1988 which says that if you serve a notice on your tenant, giving all the proper information (as set out…
This is an urban myth which perhaps should be real but isn’t. Unfortunately you can have a proper legal tenancy without there being any paperwork at all. They are sometimes called oral tenancies. Oral tenancies An oral tenancy is where the tenant just goes in on a verbal agreement and a handshake (and sometimes not…
When I started acting for landlords I had never heard of abandonment notices. I suspect that most lawyers reading this won’t have heard of them either. So far as I am aware, they are not mentioned in any of the law books. However they are a well known tactic among landlords and letting agents. What…
This post is part of my urban myths series. You can see the rest of the series >> here. I often get asked by landlords about how long a section 21 notice lasts. Questions include: Can I let the tenant stay on after the end of the notice period? If I allow the tenant to…
The Landlord Law Newsletter, For landlords and letting agents, separate tenants version available
Join Ben and Tessa's Front Liner newsletter, for social housing workers
