Public and third sector information services
GOV.UK provides extensive information on housing and local services, covering being a landlord and renting out a room, council tax, council housing and housing association, household energy, local councils and services, noise, neighbours, pets and pests, owning and renting a property, planning permission and building regulations, recycling, rubbish, streets and roads, repossessions, emergency housing and evictions, safety and the environment in your community.
Citizens Advice provides extensive information on housing. Housing issues will always arise and therefore you need to know your rights and responsibilities. You could also find yourself threatened with eviction if you can’t cope with your mortgage payments. Find information about how to go about renting or buying a home or just finding somewhere to live. Find advice on handling problems with your landlord and help to avoid losing your home.
Advicenow offers information top picks for housing and homelessness, covering what to do if you’ve got a housing problem, or if you are homeless. Including information on your rights in rented accommodation, buying or selling your house, mortgage arrears and problems with neighbours.
Shelter provides housing advice in England, with sections on homelessness, private renting, tenancy deposits, repossession, eviction, repairs, benefits, council housing and other topics. There is a companion site for advice in Scotland.
Leasehold Advisory Service is an independent advice agency, funded partly by Government grant and partly by the private sector, providing free advice to leaseholders, landlords, professional advisers and others on the law affecting residential leasehold property.
Find an adviser
Contact Citizens Advice to speak to someone in person by phone or online chat. You can get free advice for simple problems and they can recommend advisers if your situation is more complex. They also provide information on finding free or affordable legal help.
Contact Shelter. Chat online, call their urgent helpline, or find your nearest advice centre to talk directly with an adviser.
Find your local Law Centre on the Law Centres Network. All Law Centres offer face-to-face legal advice to local residents, and some run a telephone advice line. All Law Centres specialise in social welfare law.
Find a clinic on the LawWorks Clinics Network which provides free initial advice to individuals on various areas of social welfare law.
Use the Law Society’s Find a Solicitor page to find solicitors in England and Wales.
Use the Law Society of Scotland’s Find a Solicitor page.
Use the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Solicitor Directory.
Other resources
Landlord-Law is a membership service for residential landlords and tenants from solicitor Tessa Shepperson. She provides “packaged” advice to landlords and also to tenants. For example, there are documents and forms which can be filled in online, an extensive set of FAQ’s (based on real questions sent in to Tessa), a number of interactive “trails” allowing users to find the answer to problems by question and answer, and a Q and A page where readers questions are answered. Part of the site is free but access to documents and more detailed information requires a modest subscription payment. See also her Landlord Law Blog which has news and articles about landlord and tenant law and practice.
Tenancy Agreement Service provides information on the obligations and rights of both landlords and tenants in Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements (these are the most frequently used tenancy agreement by landlords when letting residential properties). There is extensive information on many aspects of these tenancies, a FAQ section and a glossary of terms used in the property market.
FixMyBlock is a project from Tower Blocks UK, created in collaboration with mySociety. Originally set up in response to the Grenfell Tower fire, FixMyBlock aims to give social tenants living in tower blocks in England, Wales and Scotland the information and support they need to tackle problems with their homes, and in particular around fire safety and dangerous living conditions. Clear action guides explain what tenants are entitled to in law; what they should do in order to get problems fixed; and, most importantly, how to take further effective action if landlords aren’t providing safe homes in accordance with their legal responsibilities.
