Category Archives: Housing

Child Homelessness: ‘office block kids’ A report estimates that more than 210,000 children are homeless. Some are being housed in temporary accommodation such as converted shipping containers and office blocks. The Children’s Commissioner for England’s report ‘Bleak Houses’ tells of whole families living in tiny spaces as council blame a £159million funding gap. Cramped conditions…

Council tenants need to make sure they aren’t doing this! A Council tenant has been fined over £100,000 for airbnbing his London home. He has also been evicted. Westminster City Council took legal action against the tenant. The court ruled last summer that he had breached the terms of his tenancy. A possession order was…

Schools out for summer: Hundreds of children could be homeless The summer holidays have begun. And what is an exciting time for many school children across the country could see hundreds of children become homeless. Council leaders are warning that over the 6 weeks school holidays 320 children in England could be placed into temporary…

Housing: families cramped as rents increase and landlords bow out Another blow to the rental housing market. Families are being squeezed into smaller accommodation due to: Rent increases Landlords selling up People struggling to save for a rent deposit The damning new research was carried out by Hargreaves Lansdown, as the Government is considering removing…

Landlords call for shorter court process for eviction A survey has found that landlords want a shorter court process for eviction if section 21 evictions are banned. Paragon’s Mortgages, reported here, found 39% of landlords wanted to see a fast tack tribunal for housing evictions should the section 21 be abolished. Currently, landlords can use…

Child homelessness increases dramatically Official figures reveal that child homelessness has increased by 80% since 2010[1]. A new household becomes homeless every 5 minutes. These figures come as there are increasing concerns with cuts to housing benefit, lack of affordable housing and lack of funding in homelessness services that more families will end up homeless.…

Landlord accuses you of committing Anti-Social Behaviour? Tell your side of the story Local authorities and housing associations have a duty to act when they receive complaints that one of their tenants might be causing a nuisance or committing anti-social behaviour around their home. But, just because a neighbour has made a complaint doesn’t mean…

The end of no-fault evictions? Luke Ridge takes a look at the recent news about possible changes to evictions in the UK. Perhaps all is not what it seems? The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire, recently announced that the government wants to bring an end to so called ‘no-fault’…

New disrepair rights for tenants In December 2018 Parliament passed the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act and it came into force on 20 March 2019. Under the old law tenants could only take legal action against their Landlord for serious structural defects or for problems with the property that met the legal definition of…

How to get your rent deposit back at end of tenancy? At the end of your tenancy, you need to ask for your deposit back. How to ask for your rent deposit back? If you used a letting agency to rent the property, it is them you need to ask. If you deal directly with…