The court of appeal has ruled in the case of Kowalek & Anor v Hassanein Ltd that rent paid (rather than rent accrued) whilst a licensing offence wasn't being committed can't be taken into account when calculating the maximum amount of a rent repayment order (RRO) and that rent arrears can be taken into account when making that calculation.

In an illegal eviction case before Liverpool Crown Court a judge has said its "a feature of anyone's moral compass that they could not simply throw a tenant out onto the street simply because they had a need to use the property.".

On 6th July we reported on the case of Northumberland Mews Ltd V Thanet District Council where a landlord was appealing against the imposition, by the council, of 5 separate civil penalties for failure to licence 5 flats in a block of flats and where the landlord argued there should just have been 1 civil penalty imposed because it was the whole block that was the Part 3 house under the 2004 Housing Act.

The landlord of a private rented sector property in Lewisham and their property manager have had fines handed down by Bromley Magistrates for failure to comply with a council notice requiring them to repair a leak from the bathroom ceiling at the property.

This will be the fourth round of funding from the Govt's Safer streets fund and is the first such round to also accept funding bids from eligible civil society organisations - such as Her Centre in London - awarded £140,000 to help provide support and counselling to victims of sexual harassment, assault, rape and stalking enabling them to "recover the confidence to live lives free of fear".

Buy to let mortgage provider Paragon Bank reports that 42% (figure provided by BVA-BDRC insights consultancy) of private rented sector landlords in a survey had no awareness of upcoming residential minimum energy efficiency standard requirements and a further 28% had some awareness but "don't understand the details".

Estate and letting agents Hamptons have published research showing the almost exponential growth in the level of rents paid nationally by tenants in Great Britain which in the first half of 2022 amounted to £31 billion and and is set to hit £63 billion by the end of the second half of the year.

The Home Office has, in collaboration with local fire and rescue services and the national Fire Kills safety campaign, produced a safety leaflet. The leaflet supplements Govt advice contained in their main Fire Safety in the Home leaflet.

The Building Safety Act came into force on 28th June but the secondary legislation giving effect to its provisions came into force on 21st July and the Govt has published accompanying guidance for leaseholders about the financial protections now available to them under the law.

Extra funding (£4 million this year instead of the £3 million in previous years) has been made available for front line organisations supporting vulnerable people with navigating the legal system and who don't have legal representation.