In this case, our client had an assured shorthold tenancy from a private landlord, who had not secured the necessary licence to privately rent this accommodation from the Council and had not given required documents to our client.
Private landlords are now required to provide tenants with a copy of the most recent gas safety check, how to rent booklet which is a leaflet drafted by the government, and an energy performance certificate (these certificates are valid for 5 years). The landlord claimed to be sharing the 3 bedroomed property with our client and her 2 daughters: his case was that our client had excluded him from his bedroom an occupier of the property and that sharing the property meant that he did not need to obtain a licence from the Council to lawfully let the property or serve the how to rent booklet, gas safety check and energy performance certificate upon her. Although our client had been served with 2 months’ notice to determine her tenancy on a “no fault” basis, Court agreed with our client’s defence that the notice was invalid and that the tenancy agreement signed by our client and the landlord at the start of her occupation showed that she had exclusive possession of her home: our own solicitor advocated at the hearing when the Court dismissed the claim and ordered the landlord to pay our client’s costs.
