Landlord and Tenant Disputes

Disputes between Landlords and Tenants can be stressful and time consuming for the parties involved. At Baines Bagguley Penhale we are experienced in assisting clients in resolving disputes arising out of tenancy agreements.

Our experienced legal advisors regularly assist clients by:

• Providing advice to Landlords with regards to the legal requirements that must be satisfied before an application can be made to repossess a property
• Assisting Landlords in negotiating with tenants
• Issuing appropriate Notices to terminate tenancies
• Issuing appropriate Notices to request possession of a property
• Where necessary Issuing Court Proceedings
• Dealing with any issues which may arise during Court Proceedings, including preparation of Witness Evidence
• Attending Court hearings
• Enforcing Possession Orders & Money Judgments

Our approach to tenancy disputes, wherever possible, is to give you clear advice from the outset regarding your position. We will discuss with you the options as to how to best resolve any disputes that have arisen and the likely costs that may be incurred.

We offer a series of fixed fees to help manage the costs in relation to these issues. Further information in relation to our fees is available here.

In addition we offer specific advice and assistance in relation to the following issues :

Legal Compliance Advice

To enable a property to be let landlords must comply with specific regulations. We can advise and assist you in complying with these regulations which include adequately protecting any deposit paid by tenants on your behalf.

Our charges for this service range from £150 – £250 (inclusive of VAT) dependent on the level of assistance required.

Tenancy Deposit Scheme Protection

We offer a Deposit Scheme Protection Administration Scheme. You can pay to us any deposit that you receive, and we will arrange for it to be properly protected and administered throughout the course of the tenancy.

Our fixed fee charges in relation to this scheme are £120 (inclusive of VAT).

Notices Requiring Possession

Before you are able to evict a tenant you must serve a legally compliant Notice requesting possession of the property. Although this process has recently been simplified it is still important to ensure that the notice is properly prepared to avoid costly delays if it does become necessary to make an application to court. Our service includes taking your instructions, reviewing your tenancy agreement and preparing a notice in accordance with your instructions. We will also deal with any correspondence received from the tenant or a third party on your behalf.
Our fixed fee charges for this work are £192 (inclusive of VAT).

Issuing Possession Proceedings

Whilst a tenant may take steps to vacate the property once a notice has been served, if they do not you cannot evict a tenant without an order of the court. Should it become necessary to apply to Court for a Possession Order a Court fee will be payable of £355.00. Our service includes reviewing any correspondence received following the issue of the notice of possession, advising you on any issues that may have been identified and preparing the court paperwork for your signature. We will also issue the court application at the correct court on your behalf.
Our fixed fees for this service are £360 (inclusive of VAT).

Preparation of Evidence

Should you require us to prepare a Witness Statement on your behalf during the course of the proceedings, we confirm that our additional fees will be calculated on an hourly rate basis. On average our fees for the preparation of a Witness Statement, including assisting you in identifying appropriate supporting evidence are, £210 – £240 inclusive of VAT.

Attendances at Court Hearings

If you would like us to attend a Court Hearing on your behalf, our fees for preparing for and attending a possession hearing start from £300 inclusive of VAT. Generally our fees are limited to £300 however our fees may increase where the hearing involves a particularly complex issue or is likely to last more than 30 minutes.

Enforcement of Court Order for Possession

In the event that the court grants an order for possession and your tenant does not vacate the property you will need to obtain a further order of the court, known as Warrant for Possession to enable your tenant to be legally evicted. A fee will be payable to the court in the sum of £121 and we charge a fixed fee of £120 (inclusive of VAT) to prepare and issue the application on your behalf.

Alternative Methods of Enforcement – Money Judgment

If you are obtaining possession of your property due to your tenant failing to pay rent you may obtain an order from the court in respect of the money owed to you by your tenant. This is known as a Money Judgment. There are various methods available to enforce that judgement once obtained. We offer a fixed fee advice service to help you identify the most appropriate method of enforcement in the particular circumstances of your property. Our fee for this service is £120 (inclusive of VAT).

We appreciate that everyone may need different levels of help in dealing with tenancy disputes, if you need assistance which is not covered by any of the areas above please contact Nicola Codd who will be happy to discuss your particular circumstances.

For further information or to set a possession application in process please contact us.