Success for London landlords in June

This month the housing team have been busy helping landlords in the London area.

• The team agreed on an out of court settlement in a claim for professional negligence against our client’s previous solicitors for their advice in relation to a possession claim. We issued fresh proceedings, obtained possession and pursued the previous solicitors for negligence. A settlement was agreed at £39.500.
• We also acted for joint landlords being prosecuted for failure to licence and failure to comply with information requests under the Housing Act 2004. We ran a reasonable excuse defence that the local authorities’ online system prevent our clients from making a licence application. After making a disclosure request for information into their online system, the local authority decided to drop all charges against one landlord and accept early guilty pleas from the other with a small fine.
• The team also acted for a guardianship company in relation to a possession claim. We advised them on issuing possession proceedings and deposits and successfully obtained eviction orders.