Leases & Tenancy Agreements, Dispute Resolution and Admin
Landlords of residential property rely upon us to deal with both contentious and non-contentious aspects of landlord and tenant law.
Our expertise within this area ensures that our team remain at the very cutting edge of all legal framework developments ultimately ensuring that your obligations are met and your commercial advantage is maintained.
We pride ourselves on our ability to translate legalese into clear, plain English and provide candid advice and practical solutions on all matters of concern to Landlords which may include:
- Assured Shortholds and other Tenancies
- Lease Extensions
- Assignments and sub-letting
- Collective freehold enfranchisement
- Landlords' consents
- Lease renewals and other issues arising from the Landlord & Tenant Acts 1954 and 1995
- Agricultural tenancies
As a landlord, you will undoubtedly seek tenants who will occupy your property with due care and respect and act in an honest fashion at all time whist meeting their contractual obligations.
With this in mind, and the appropriate leases in place, you will hope that that a solicitor is not required to act in the case where a tenant has caused issue. In the unfortunate circumstance that such a need arises, you can rest assured that the solicitors at AWS can offer you the best possible route to resolving the dispute in your favour. We are specialist in:
- Landlord and tenant disputes
- Breach of lease consultancy and litigation
- Rent reviews/rent arrears
- Service charge disputes
- Enforcement of covenants
- Issuing proceedings for the possession of premises
- Recovery of service charges
- Recovery of possession
- Removal of unauthorised occupants
- Schedules of dilapidations
- Tenant eviction
Administrative duties associated with landlord and tenant arrangements can be time consuming and inconvenient for many landlords, particularly those with other business interests or employment commitments.
Aspects which can place a burden on landlords can be easily outsourced to the team at AWS and managed by qualified solicitors and paralegals who can liaise with your tenants and agents as required. Some of these activities include, but which are not limited to:
- Lease negotiation
- Lease renewal
- Lease extension
Should the worst case scenario arise in the relationship between tenant and landlord, it is possible that you may find yourself being subject to or needing to call upon a property tribunal. This can be a very trying, complicated, stressful and onerous time and you will want to ensure that you have the best representation possible.
Working with Ashley Wilson Solicitors will ensure that you receive advice which is fit for purpose combined with expert representation from a team of solicitors with years of experience in contentious property litigation.
We will work with you to ensure that you stand the best chance of securing a favourable outcome and will offer access to the most qualified Barristers should the need arise. We are specialist in:
- Possession Proceedings
- Forfeiture
It may be necessary to uprate the front doors to flats from the access corridors, i.e. as a consequence of a fire risk assessment recommending such work.
A new Bill which will fundamentally change the way renting residential property in the UK works is currently going through its second reading in the House of Commons.
If enacted, Assured Shorthold Tenancies will be scrapped and all new tenancies will be Assured Periodic Tenancies. The Section 21 ”No fault” process for recovering possession will no longer exist and so landlords will only be able to recover possession by using the existing Section 8 procedure and proving their ground for recovery of possession. It is proposed that new grounds for recovery of possession will be added including where the landlord wishes to sell the property.
In 2018, the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid announced a “crackdown on unfairly sold practices” that would include setting ground rents on new long leases to zero and working with The Law Commission to make the process of purchasing a freehold or extending a lease of a flat “much easier, faster and cheaper”.
