Our Tenant Solicitors Promise

Landlord and tenant law is an umbrella term for the area of law that applies to legal issues between a landlord and a tenant.

At Britton and Time, our tenant solicitors offer support with the following services:

• Understanding your tenant rights
• The disrepair of a property
• Unlawful evictions
• Court representation
• Resolving landlord disputes

Unsurprisingly, one of the most common questions surrounding this area of law regards your rights as a tenant.

As a tenant, your rights are as follows:

• To know the identity of your landlord.
• To live in a property that’s safe and in a good state of repair.
• Have your deposit returned when the tenancy ends – and in some instances to have the deposit protected in a government-authorised scheme.
• Live in an undisturbed property.
• Receive a copy of the gas safety certificate and energy performance certificate.
• Be protected against unfair eviction or unfair rent charges.
• Challenge any excessively high charges.

If you’re a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy, a landlord can legally evict you through a section 21 notice or a section 8 notice, providing the correct procedure has been carried out. If your landlord hasn’t followed the correct procedure or fulfilled their responsibilities, you may be able to contest the eviction notice.

Section 8

For a section 8 notice, the landlord must correctly serve the notice and site at least one of 17 valid eviction grounds with the applicable notice period. Examples of section 8 notice grounds may be the property being repossessed by a mortgage lender or persistent late payments of rent.

A tenant can contest the ground for eviction.

Section 21

In contrast, for a section 21 notice to be valid, the landlord must first give a tenant two months notice (currently 6 months because of the implementation of the Cornanvirus Act 2020). Additionally, the section 21 notice must be correctly served and fulfil some of the following requirements:

1. The fixed term of the tenancy has ended, or it’s an open-ended tenancy.
2. The tenant’s deposit is protected in a government-authorised scheme. A tenant must be served the prescribed information alongside a deposit certificate within 30 days after paying their deposit.
3. The tenant hasn’t recently made complaints about the property. In a case where a landlord serves notice following a tenant’s complaint, it can be known as a revenge eviction.
4. An “Improvement Notice” or “Notice of Emergency Remedial Action” hasn’t been issued to the landlord within the last six months.
5. A tenant has received a copy of the gas safety certificate, an energy performance certificate and the Government’s ‘How to Rent Guide’ during their tenancy.
6. The tenancy is more than four months.
7. The correct procedure for serving the notice has been completed.

A tenant can contest the evicition if they feel the landlord hasn’t fulfilled their requirements.

Few tenant solicitors offer legal aid, and while we would love to, the government only appoints a tiny number of law firms to offer these services. So, for the time being, we can only accept privately funded cases.