Landlord Law Blog looks back at 2020

A grim year for many landlords and tenants, this is the year which brought us the coronavirus pandemic.

 Which came out of the blue and blasted a year which had looked to be going well.

So let’s start in January – a time when few people had ever heard of COVID 19.  Happy days.

January

We started with a new free ebook. I wrote a letter to the Housing Minister on the model tenancy agreement and pets.  

I started a new series on how to protect your position against the end of section 21 and looked at insurance and the property condition.

David Smith looked at the new Electricity Regulations.

Blog clinic posts included tenants rights if their deposit is not put in a scheme, and the cost of using a letting agent for possession proceedings.

February

My ‘end of section 21’ series looked at ground 1 notices, licenses, choosing tenants and records.

I write about the flood risk to rented properties and discuss ten issues on deposit free renting schemes.  The Chancery Lane Project fights climate change with legal precedents.

And I celebrate becoming a solicitor again!

Blog clinic posts include claiming against an agent for introducing bad tenants and enforcing a rent repayment order.

March

This is the month that COVID hit us and the first lockdown started towards the end of the month.

Before that, I finished my series on the end of s21 and protecting your position Ben did a post on slavery, people trafficking and the landlord, and Robin Steward did a post on whether landlords with an existing EICR need to get a new one to comply with the new regs.

As soon as coronavirus became an item, we put on the first of several webinars (this one in association with the NRLA) and I started a series of help articles the first one being on keeping records.

Blog clinic posts include a question on whether a guarantor can be liable for rent increases after they signed the guarantee, and whether a landlord can order a tenant to leave in under 2 weeks, 

April

Further help for landlords in the coronavirus at this time included two webinars and our Lockdown Learning (now ended).  I also continued my help article series with articles on house moves, property viewings, GDPR and data protection and free accommodation websites for NHS staff during the pandemic.

Barrister Robert Brown did a post on new rules for Witness Statements and Statements of Truth.

We also did posts about our Landlord Law Legal cases webinars – the recordings can now be found on the Landlord Law YouTube Channel.

Blog clinic posts include on about a ‘desperate landlord’ wanting ‘her’ property back and whether tenants risk penalties if they cannot vacate at the end of their notice period.

May

From now on I rather lost my mojo – so far as keeping up with the blog posts is concerned – so they dwindled rather (plus the blog closed down over Easter) although I kept up with our Newsround posts every Friday.  Probably because I was doing so many other things.  It happens sometimes.

In this month, Robert Brown did a post for us on ‘project re-start‘ for lettings agents, I looked back at the Landlord Law Virtual Conference 2020 and Sean Hooker did a post for us on the new Tenancy Mediation service from Hamilton Fraser.

Blog clinic posts included a post on whether the coronavirus pandemic entitled landlords to renegotiate concluded settlements.

June

I supported Black Lives matter by writing about ‘right to rent’ and how it proves we have racial discrimination at the heart of government policy, and reported on the new Electricity Regulations coming into force from 1 July.  I also wrote about a new service for landlords from Crisis and considered the rules about working from home if you are a tenant in a rented property.

We had a rare but welcome post from Ben Reeve Lewis on creating housing law training for the police, Robin Stewart wrote about a new case on Rent Repayment Orders and barrister Justin Bates did a post for us on the Tracarrel case on section 21 notices and Gas Safety Certificates.

Blog clinic posts included a post advising a landlord who wants to sell up to avoid liabilities.

July

Justin Bates wrote a post for us on a new case, Jarvis v. Evans, on section 8 notices in Wales, and I asked if there is any point in mediation for possession proceedings?

My new podcast, the Landlord and Lawyer Podcast with NRLA CEO Ben Beadle launched with our first episode which was on Unique Property Numbers (more important than you might think) with our first guest the fabulous Kate Faulkner.

Blog clinic posts include a tenant who asks of there can be an implied surrender if a tenant remains in occupation, and a question on whether 10 years is too late to claim a penalty for an unprotected deposit.

August

I wrote a post considering the new and dangerous world faced by landlords and did a post advising tenants what they should do if threatened with eviction.

I published an hour-long (more or less) interview with solicitor David Smith in five parts (this is the first).

Blog clinic posts included a post on the rights of tenants unable to move in because the previous tenants refused to leave.

September

I reviewed David Smiths new book on GDPR and part 5 of his interview is here.

I did a post on the new ‘No DSS’ case supported by Shelter (and which was the subject of a Landlord Law Case webinar) and published an interview with Hammock on their innovative new landlord’s bank account.

Blog clinic posts included a question about the notice period tenants need to give under a periodic tenancy.

October

I announced that the Landlord Law Legal Cases webinars are now free, wrote a reflections piece on the webinar we had with Tessa Buchannan on the ‘No DSS’ case and asked if it was right for anti-eviction activists to target landlords.

I also wrote about my new Triodos bank account which will hopefully help to save the planet!

Blog clinic posts include a question about incoming tenants paying their deposit to the outgoing tenant and whether a tenant is entitled to remain in a property after giving notice by text.

November

I wonder whether tenants can swap skills or stuff to pay rent, ask whether we should change the law to allow tenants to take in one lodger.

I also write about my new Tenancy Agreements course.  

Blog clinic posts include what recourse landlords have against their letting agent if tenants leave with rent arrears 

December

I consider a simple idea which could solve the problem of unhealthy rabbit hutch HMOs and wonder who can claim victory in the battle of landlords and tenants?

Blog clinic posts include a post on whether both tenants need to agree to activate a break clause.

And finally

So there you are.  Something for you to read during the holiday period, should you be minded to read landlord and tenant-related stuff.  If you want more, you can take a look at some of the past Xmas roundups from the links in the sidebar.

This blog will close down now for a few weeks until early January.

So what about 2021?  Hopefully, that will be a better year.  We have a few things planned.

• We will be putting on another Virtual Conference probably in May and will be providing more information about this in a few weeks
• We also have a special ‘January Giveaway’ planned which we will be running from 1 January which you can read about here.
• And we will be continuing to add more content to our Landlord Law service to make it the best landlord information service around.

So have a great holiday (or as good as you can) and we will see you in the New Year.