Rental sector organisations have been given an indication by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that a new How To Rent guide will be issued in early October.
Private landlords MUST serve the latest version of the guide at the start of any new tenancy and on renewal if there has been an update to the contents of the guide. It forms part of the prescribed information landlords must issue, and if they do not, they lose the right to repossess using Section 21.
The latest update - likely on October 2 - will be the second update in 2023 and the revision next month will include reference to the controversial Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, which replaces the Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes and allows tenants to access legal advice if they are at risk of losing their home.
The HLPAS offers early legal advice, free of charge, to anyone at risk of possession proceedings and loss of their home. Advice can be provided in relation to Housing, Debt and Welfare Benefits issues, and this assistance includes so-called ’In Court Duty’ on-the-day emergency advice and advocacy to anyone facing possession proceedings.
Under the new scheme, the Legal Aid Agency is extending court duty scheme work to include early legal advice on housing, welfare benefits and debt from the moment a landlord or lender issues a notice to repossess. This is non-means and non-merits tested.
A government statement says: “The service enables anyone at risk of losing their home or facing possession proceedings to get free legal advice, and representation in court, regardless of their financial circumstances.”
The government says new versions of the How to Rent guide will be available on the gov.uk website during the day on Monday October 2.
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Probably includes a new chapter on how to live in someone’s else’s property without paying the rent, in addition to getting paid compensation and how to do it forever.
They are trying to take people's property's why don't they do the same to banks when people can't pay their mortgage let them live in the property for free because they can't afford their mortgage infact they snatch the house off them their deposit lost and left homeless
If the Government stopped driving out private sector landlords then they wouldn't need to tell tenants to try to stay put when they have had notice to quit.
Why make the business untenable for landlords and tenants?
HLPS, is yet another Gov tactic to make eviction and possession virtually impossible, the trajectory is consistently moving ever closer to state sequestration. Our private property assets are being seized under the pretext of ‘tenants rights’ whilst our rights of ownership have been rendered irrelevant. Communism, no other name for it.
The same should apply to mortgages if people can't afford to pay their mortgage they should be able to live in their property for free in fact the bank takes the property The deposit lost and people are left homeless we as lanlords across the uk should stand up and fight against this discrimination against us
When How 2 Rent guide was introduced it was supposed to be a one off, 8 pages but had to be immediately changed because of mistakes they didn’t know what they were doing. So now I doubt if any Anti-landlord Organisations can tell me how many changes and different issues there has been, do you know that Ben Twomey ? I thought not. I know to my huge costs batches and batches dumped because the next time that I have Tenancy to do it’s changed again and they tell us reduce printing to save the Planet. It more than doubled in size with landlord hate since 2014, now they want another one to stop you using S.21 that they are doing their utmost to remove. It’s the Government that wants rid of S.21 to stop people turning up demanding to be housed waving a Court Order.
The government should have said they had no automatic right to housing no more than they had before moving into the Private Accommodation they have now lost.
Why they bring unnecessary laws and make life harder landlords and tenants rather they should build more houses and avoid these issues. Next term I will not vote Tory government. Bye bye
Can't the tenant just google the relevant documents?
So tenants can have FREE advice and Court representation? What about Landlords who haven't received any rent for months and who are in arrears with their mortgages? Do they get the same FREE support as the Tenants?
I can see a this stacking up against Landlords. But it will be the Tenants who ultimately lose out.
Landlords can only get free legal help if they are threatened by repossession.
John, exact my thoughts why landlords have to give them 'how to rent Guide'. The tenants need educated then the gov't website should have them and encourage thevtenants to look at that. Or LLs just need tp add a link to the website so any updated guide is seen by the tenants by accessing the link. The LL s should not be responsible to pass it on to the tenants. I just passed March 2023 to my tenants just before the tenancy.
This should be issued by an estate agent when tenants view a property. A good portion of the guide relates to selecting the right property for your needs, however by the time you receive this you have signed a AST so it’s to late to use the advice within the guide
Leon. My friend Tenants are mostly younger than landlords, younger people have an advantage and are more able to use technology and Google so all you need to do is press a button and it’s all there in front of you to read all yo want, you are so lucky you didn’t read it you’ certainly would have lost the Property if you started all that nonsense, which only started in 2014 with 8 pages now 18 pages so it will take you twice as long to read but be quick it getting fatter by the minute.
Handy , I’m all out of loo paper
This is clear discrimination against lanlords why don't the banks have the same amount of red tape if people fall behind on their mortgage they don't get any help they lose their deposit and their homes no reasoning or government help
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