MSB’s Social Housing Highlight – September

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

The latest at MSB

It’s been another busy month and it was great to meet up with some of our clients face to face this at our ‘Sangria and Social Housing’ event. Thank you to everyone who joined us.

Louise Murphy and Andy Moore attended the CIH conference in Manchester and thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with some familiar faces after so long and attending some interesting talks.

In team news, Julia Michalczyk, who has been with the team since May, started her training contract with us this month! We have no doubt she will make an excellent solicitor. Julia, Beth and Abs have also started the second year of their LPC.

Brook Holroyd has been elected to Press and Publicity Representative for the Merseyside Junior Lawyers Division. We are very proud!

Louise Murphy and Amy Tagoe delivered some free training and some useful practical tips on dealing with hoarding cases. We were also joined by Lynsey Grundy from Tidy House Tidy Minds who offered a helpful insight.

We have also been doing our bit for charity this month. MSB donated school uniforms to the Regenda Group to distribute in their local area and Amy and her family took part in the Great North Run to raise money for the Anthony Walker Foundation. You can donate here. Some members of the team also took part in the Liverpool Legal Walk to raise money for the Access to Justice Foundation – great causes all around!

As always, the team have been keeping their fingers on the pulse and have written some useful blogs, with Tom Stockton providing an update on a recent case involving costs in housing disrepair and Amy Tagoe providing an update on the future implementation of fixed costs in a wide range of civil matters. Louise has also produced a helpful article on what makes a good post inspection.

Housing law news

Notice periods and Notices

There have been further changes to the Notice periods, which will go back to what they were pre-Covid from 1st October 2021. Click here for a helpful guide on the new Notice periods.

Form 3 (Section 8 Notice) and Form 6(a) (Section 21 Notice) will also be updated from 1st October 2021. It’s always important to check the government website to ensure you are using the most up to date version of the form.

Court Fees 

There has been an amendment to court fees in line with inflation. The new fees come in at the end of the month. Click here for the full details.

Home Loss Payments 

Home Loss Payments increase from the 1st October.  The maximum home loss payment payable under Land Compensation Act 1973 s30 is increased to £71,000 and the minimum amount payable to tenants rises to £7,100.

Upcoming events

6th October 2021 

Our next free webinar, ‘Starter tenancies, ASTs and accelerated possession claims’ is coming up very soon with Phillip Coburn and Brook Holroyd! Please email dominiqueowens@msbsolicitors.co.uk or click here to register your place.