Working with social housing providers since 1980 we have developed with our clients to meet the challenges of landlords today.  Advice at an early stage can save time and money and help deliver an excellent service.  Following the correct procedures at an early stage is important.  Our free telephone advice service ensures that if our clients are not sure what type of Notice to serve, we can advise by telephone, and if the Notice does not resolve the problem the ground work for legal action is correct so avoiding unnecessary delay.

Specialist advice is offered in all areas of housing management, some of the more frequent problems we assist with are:

• Rent arrears
• Other breach of tenancy agreement
• Tenants in prison - short and long term
• Abandonment
• Failure to occupy
• Succession / assignment
• Applications to revive tenancy following breach of suspended possession order
• Dealing with tolerated trespassers generally
• Right to buy applications
• Subletting
• Management of temporary accommodation
• Injunction applications for access for repairs and/or gas servicing
• Unauthorised occupier and squatters proceedings
• Defending disrepair claims
• Defending Environmental Protection Act prosecutions

 

FAQs

Q. My tenant is in prison and has said her cousin will be living there whilst she is imprisoned.  Do I have to accept this - I want this property back.
A. What will be important here is the length of the custodial sentence.

For a shortish custodial sentence - several years - the Courts have held that a tenant may appoint a caretaker to occupy on their behalf.  There will be little possibilty of recovering possession unless other problems arise, ie rent arrears. 

If the sentence is for much longer, success on recovering possession is much more likely.  So you may refuse the request, serve the appropriate notices seek to negotiate a surrender of the tenancy and if that fails issue proceedings upon expiry of the notices.

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