Savage Legal Services, Chorley (2026)

01/09/2026

If a tenant challenged your rent increase tomorrow, what would you have on file to justify the figure?

With the changes that came in on 1 May, this is something landlords and letting agents are going to have to think about more carefully.

It’s easy enough to look on Rightmove, find another two-bedroom property advertised for £1,200 and use that as a benchmark.

However, is that truly comparable?

• How close is it to the property?
• What condition is it in?
• Is the size and specification similar?
• Was £1,200 simply the asking rent, or do you know what was actually agreed?

RICS guidance describes recent open-market transactions involving genuinely comparable properties as stronger evidence than asking prices alone.

So the rent review itself is probably the point to start building the evidence file, rather than waiting until a tenant challenges the increase.

As landlords and agents, are you keeping comparable lettings on file when you review the rent, or are you mainly relying on current asking prices?

27/08/2026

The tenant has moved out, the property is empty, the keys are back with the agent and the rent payments have stopped.

Easy to assume the tenancy has ended well, right?

Unfortunately, it isn’t always that simple.

Since 1 May, most existing private assured shorthold tenancies have become assured periodic tenancies. A tenant can end one by giving the required notice, or the landlord and tenant can agree that the tenancy will end by surrender.

The issue starts when nobody has clearly established how the tenant intends to end the tenancy.

They might hand the keys back and say they’ve moved out. They might leave them at the property. They might simply stop responding.

What happens next can make a big difference.

If the tenant hands the keys back intending to end the tenancy, and the landlord accepts them on the basis that the tenancy is ending, that can amount to a surrender.

Leaving the property or putting the keys through a letterbox doesn’t, by itself, bring the tenancy to an end.

For landlords and letting agents, this is where keeping a clear record is important.

What did the tenant actually say when the keys were returned? Was an end date agreed? Was rent still due after that date? Were belongings left behind? What happened with the property afterwards?

Those details become much harder to untangle later if there’s a dispute over the final rent, the deposit or the date the tenancy ended.

If keys are being handed back early, make sure everyone is clear about when the tenancy is ending and what has actually been agreed.

If you’re dealing with a tenant who has moved out or returned the keys without clearly ending the tenancy, I can advise on the position before any further steps are taken.

25/08/2026

If the council asks for tenancy records, check exactly what has been requested before anyone starts sending documents.

Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, local authorities have specific investigatory powers which can, in certain circumstances, require landlords, letting agents and others connected with rented property to provide information as part of an investigation.

For letting agents especially, the relevant records may be spread across different systems, email accounts, maintenance files or information held by the landlord or contractors, so it’s important to establish what is being asked for and where the relevant records are held.

Any response should be based on the actual file. Records should be preserved, the information supplied should accurately reflect what is held and gaps should not be filled from memory simply because something seems likely to be correct.

A request for information does not mean that a landlord or agent has committed an offence. However, if the council’s correspondence refers to a statutory notice, suspected breach, civil penalty or enforcement action, it is sensible to take advice before responding.

Good record keeping has always mattered for landlords and letting agents. With local authority enforcement powers now extending further into the private rented sector, knowing where those records are and making sure the response is accurate matters even more.

20/08/2026

The final deadline for starting possession proceedings under the old Section 21 and Section 8 rules has now passed.

Landlords and letting agents who served a notice before the tenancy reforms came into force on 1 May 2026 had a limited period in which they could still rely on the previous possession procedure.

That transitional period ended on 31 July 2026.

Where possession proceedings were not started by the applicable deadline, a Section 21 notice served before 1 May can no longer be used to bring a new claim, even where the notice was valid when it was served and the tenant remains in the property.

The same deadline applied to possession proceedings based on a Section 8 notice served under the previous rules. In either case, the relevant deadline may have fallen earlier because of the ordinary time limit applying to the particular notice.

The fact that a landlord served a notice before 1 May does not preserve the right to use it indefinitely.

Possession proceedings that were issued correctly and within the permitted period can continue through the court process. However, where no claim was issued in time, the landlord will need to reconsider the case under the law that now applies.

This means identifying whether one or more of the current Section 8 grounds are available, checking the conditions attached to those grounds and serving a new notice using the correct form and notice period.

The evidence required will depend on the ground being relied upon.

A landlord seeking possession because they intend to sell the property will need to consider a different ground and evidential basis from a landlord dealing with rent arrears, anti-social behaviour or another breach of the tenancy. Some grounds are mandatory if the statutory requirements are proved, while others remain discretionary and require the court to decide whether making a possession order is reasonable.

The wider tenancy and compliance records should also be reviewed before a new notice is served.

Changes to the possession regime have not removed the need to establish the identity of the landlord, the terms and history of the tenancy, the rent position, the authority of any managing agent and any other legal or procedural issue that may affect the proposed claim.

Continuing to rely on an expired notice, or assuming that the same possession strategy can simply be restarted under a new form, may lead to further delay and unnecessary cost.

Where the 31 July deadline was missed, the next step is to review the current facts and decide whether a fresh route to possession is available under the new Section 8 framework.

18/08/2026

The best possession strategy is not always the most aggressive one.

When a landlord is dealing with serious tenant conduct issues, it is understandable that their first thought may be to start possession proceedings and ask the court to remove the tenant from the property. This may be the right route in some cases.

However, where there are no rent arrears, the tenancy paperwork is incomplete, the deposit position creates difficulty, or the possession grounds being relied on are discretionary, it is worth looking carefully at the landlord’s real objective before deciding how to proceed.

For many landlords, the priority is not to have a long argument at court, it is to recover the property, bring the situation to an end, reduce the stress they are dealing with, and avoid spending months in a dispute that may still carry uncertainty.

This can be particularly important where the tenant’s behaviour is affecting more than the property itself, such as where the landlord lives nearby, runs a business from the same building, or is having to manage repeated issues with contractors, repairs and access.

In a recent case I dealt with, a landlord came to me in a very stressful situation involving a rental property above their business. The property had been let to a tenant, but there was no formal written tenancy agreement. The tenancy deposit had not been protected, and although gas safety certificates had been obtained, the landlord could not locate the original certificate, which created further difficulty when considering the available possession options.

The tenant was not in rent arrears, but there were serious concerns about damage to the property and the conduct of the tenant and their partner. The landlord reported repeated damage, including doors being pulled off and bathroom facilities being broken on more than one occasion. There were also issues with abusive behaviour towards the landlord and contractors, which made it difficult for repairs and works to be carried out.

The situation was particularly difficult because the landlord ran their business directly below the property, so the issue was not only affecting them as a landlord, it was also affecting their day-to-day working life and business.

I advised that a possession claim could be brought relying on breach of tenancy and anti-social behaviour grounds under Grounds 12 and 14 of Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. However, those grounds are discretionary, which means the court would not be required to grant an outright possession order. Proceedings could also take time, become costly, and add further stress for the landlord at a point when they were already dealing with a very difficult situation.

The tenant had indicated through the agent that they may be willing to leave in exchange for a payment.

I identified this as a practical route to achieve the client’s main objective more quickly, so I contacted the tenant to negotiate a settlement and prepared a Deed of Surrender and Settlement Agreement. Under the agreement, the tenant agreed to vacate the property, remove their belongings, and allow any items left behind to be disposed of. In exchange, the landlord agreed to pay £1,800 and return the £200 deposit. This brought the matter to a conclusion without the landlord having to pursue a lengthy and uncertain possession claim.

For landlords, this case is a reminder that the strongest route is not always the most aggressive one.

Sometimes the best legal advice is about identifying the option that achieves the client’s real objective with the least delay, cost and uncertainty. In this case, that meant helping the landlord regain control of the property and reduce the pressure the situation was placing on both their business and personal life.

13/08/2026

Five complaints about a tenant do not necessarily give you five pieces of evidence.

A managing agent might receive repeated messages about the same tenant. One neighbour reports shouting late at night, another mentions people coming and going at all hours, there are WhatsApp messages, emails to the office and perhaps even a police incident reference.

The complaints are building, and the landlord wants action taken.

The key question is: what can actually be proved?

A file full of complaints is not always the same as a file containing evidence that can support an injunction or possession claim.

Dates, times, incident details and who witnessed what can all matter. Keeping a clear chronology can help show whether there is a genuine pattern of behaviour rather than a series of disconnected allegations.

Original emails, messages, incident logs and police or council reference numbers should be preserved where relevant. Witness evidence can also become crucial, because somebody reporting an incident to an agent is different from somebody being willing and able to give evidence about what they personally saw or heard.

By the time legal action is being considered, some of the most important incidents may have happened weeks or months earlier.

That is why record keeping should start while the problem is developing, not when proceedings are already on the table.

If you are a landlord or managing agent dealing with repeated anti-social behaviour complaints, what is harder in practice, getting incidents reported properly or getting witnesses willing to provide evidence later?

I advise landlords and managing agents on injunctions, possession proceedings and housing disputes across England.

11/08/2026

Many landlords and letting agents assume that tenants now have to give two months’ notice.

Since the Renters’ Rights Act reforms came into force on 1 May 2026, the maximum notice a landlord can require from a tenant is two months. However, where a shorter contractual notice period still applies, the tenant may be entitled to give less notice.

For example, if the tenancy agreement provides for one month’s notice and that provision continues to apply, the landlord cannot simply insist on two months because the law has changed.

The position can depend on the tenancy itself, including when it started, whether it was fixed term or periodic, and what the agreement says should happen once any fixed term ends.

If the agreement does not contain an applicable provision setting out how much notice the tenant must give, they will generally need to give at least two months’ notice.

Also, a tenancy agreement cannot require more than two months’ notice under the current rules, so a clause requiring three months cannot be relied upon to require the tenant to give the full three months.

It is important to check the tenancy documents before accepting or rejecting a tenant’s notice, especially when a landlord is already planning around the expected end date, whether that involves contractors, a new letting, selling the property or calculating rent liability.

If you are unsure whether notice given by a tenant is valid, it is worth getting advice before taking the next step.

I advise landlords and letting agents across England on tenancy disputes, possession proceedings and the practical implications of the Renters’ Rights Act.

06/08/2026

A letting agent cannot assume the landlord carries all the legal risk.

A landlord gives an instruction. The agent follows it, prepares the documents and manages the process with the tenant. If that process later turns out to be unlawful, saying “we were only following instructions” may not be enough.

Liability is not automatic, and it will depend on the specific legal duty, the nature of the breach and the agent’s involvement.

However, letting agents and managing agents may still face exposure where they have acted on a landlord’s behalf without checking whether the proposed action complies with the law.

Before carrying out an instruction, it is worth checking:

- Who is responsible for each stage of the process
- Whether the documents and procedure are legally compliant
- What advice or warnings have been given to the landlord
- What evidence has been retained
- Whether the instruction should be paused and escalated

Written records can become particularly important if the landlord and agent later disagree about what was requested, what advice was given or who was responsible for completing a particular task.
A clear management agreement helps, but it will not always determine legal responsibility on its own. The legislation involved and the actions taken by each party also matter.

Letting agents are often the people carrying out the operational work, which can bring legal exposure as well as commercial responsibility.

Have you ever received an instruction from a landlord that made you stop and question whether it should be followed?

30/07/2026

A landlord may think the main problem is rent arrears, possession or a difficult tenancy dispute.

Then a licensing issue appears in the background, and the financial risk changes completely.

Rent Repayment Orders can allow a tenant or local authority to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for the repayment of up to two years’ rent where certain housing offences have been committed.

One of the most common risks is an unlicensed property.

This does not always arise because a landlord has deliberately ignored their responsibilities. A selective licensing scheme may have been introduced after the property was first let, a managing agent may have taken over during the tenancy, or responsibility for checking the position may have been assumed to sit elsewhere.

The issue often comes to light when the property records are reviewed because another problem has already developed.

At this stage, the landlord and agent may need to establish when the licensing requirement began, who was managing the property, whether an application was made, who received the rent and what records exist to show how compliance was handled.

Management agreements, council correspondence, payment records, emails and internal file notes can all become important.
An application does not automatically mean that the maximum amount will be awarded, but the possible exposure is significant enough that the issue should be addressed as soon as it is identified.

If a licensing concern, enforcement issue or potential Rent Repayment Order has been raised, feel free to contact me as I support landlords, letting agents and property managers across England with reviewing the history, evidence and next steps.

28/07/2026

A landlord calls and says the tenant has not paid the rent.

The instruction is clear:

Chase the arrears and start looking at the next steps.

But then the agent checks the file and discovers:

- One payment has not been allocated properly.
- The rent increase was never clearly recorded.
- An earlier email gives a different version of events.
- The tenancy agreement names someone else as the landlord.

Suddenly, a straightforward instruction is not quite as straightforward as it first appeared.

This too can happen with access, damage or possession.

The landlord may have a genuine concern and the agent may be ready to act, but the paperwork can change what happens next.

This is why the tenancy file matters.

Before a firm position is put to the tenant, it is worth checking:

- The rent schedule
- Earlier correspondence
- Deposit records
- Management agreement
- Notices
- Any evidence already held

Managing agents are often caught in the middle when something needs dealing with quickly, and the pressure to respond can be considerable. A short pause to review the file can prevent a much bigger problem later.

Have you ever opened a tenancy file expecting a simple answer and found something completely different?

Savage Legal Services

01/09/2026

27/08/2026

25/08/2026

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18/08/2026

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11/08/2026

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