MSB’s Social Housing Highlight – August

Bringing you all the latest updates from the world of Social Housing.

The latest at MSB

We have some absolute superstars at team MSB, who we know are going to make excellent solicitors in the future. Congratulations to George Chai, who passed his Legal Practice Course with distinction and to our trainees Beth McKeown, who passed her General Commercial exam on her LPC, and Julia Michalcyzk, who passed her Family and employment law exams! We couldn’t be more proud of their achievements.  

This month, Andrew Fairman has not only competed in his first post-pandemic triathlon, he has also dived into the world of podcasts! Listen to the first in his series of episodes on compliance in social housing, here. Be sure to follow Andrew via @sh_compliance on Twitter for useful tips on compliance issues and for early access to the next episode. 

We’ve also been excited to get out and about this month, with Amy and Beth attending the Women in Social Housing walking tour of Stockport. It was great to meet other people as passionate about social housing and we are. 

There has also been lots happening across the MSB to support good causes, with a team completing the Lake District 5 Peaks challenge to raise money for the Neonatal Unit at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. It was an incredible achievement we are all very proud of them. If you would like to show your support, any donations would be really appreciated. You can donate, here. 

As always, the team have been keeping their fingers on the pulse and have written some useful blogs, with Beth setting out her ‘Golden Rules for Disrepair and Access’ and Brook summarising a recent study on stigma in social housing – an incredibly pertinent issue.   We have also written some helpful case law summaries, with Julia commenting on a recent Without Notice Injunction case and Phil sharing on a recent Succession case.  

Housing law news

The Civil Procedure Amendment 

The Civil Procedure Amendment rules (amendment 4) 2021 have been published. Rule 12 came into force on 7 August 2021 and amends state that if an eviction does not take place following a notice of eviction which specifies the time and date for the eviction, a further notice of eviction, giving at least seven days’ notice of the new time and date for the eviction, must be delivered before the eviction can proceed. 

Notice periods 

There have been further changes to the Notice periods for Section 8 Notices for rent arrears. Now, where there are four or more months of unpaid rent, the Notice period will be two months.  Click here for a recap of the current Notice periods.    

Form 3 (Section 8 Notice) has also been updated and can be found here. It’s always important to check the government website to ensure you are using the most up to date version of the form.

Upcoming events

1st September 2021 

Our next free webinar, ‘Hoarding and Social Housing’ is coming up very soon with Louise Murphy and Amy Tagoe! Please email dominiqueowens@msbsolicitors.co.uk to book your place. 

8th September 2021 

Have you booked your place on the guest list for our evening of ‘Sangria & Social Housing’? Join us for an evening of networking, food and drinks at Manchester’s Evuna from 5pm-9pm, following the Chartered Institute of Housing’s award-winning annual conference. We’d love to see you there! Email dominiqueowens@msbsolicitors.co.uk to be added to the guest list.