Housing Conditions tenants rights, 6th Edition

By HHJ Jan Luba, Catherine O’Donnell and Giles Peaker.

The law relating to the condition of rented property is very, very complex.  It is found in a plethora of acts of Parliament and legal cases from over the past 100 years or so.

The Law Commission has attempted to make things simpler but the government has (largely) refused to follow their advice, leaving tenants and their advisors to muddle through.

So it is fortunate that we have a really good and clear textbook to assist.

Housing Conditions – Repairs, tenants rights renamed

You may remember the book as Repairs, tenants rights but in this new edition, it has been given a new name to reflect the changes in the law.

In particular, the new Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2019 – largely the responsibility of one of the authors, Giles Peaker, who together with Karen Buck MP and Justin Bates, managed to get it onto the statute book.

So the new title reflects the fact that tenants rights have now improved – they can not only bring claims based on repair issues (which depend on something being ‘broken’) but can now, with the new act, bring claims for poor conditions generally.  Even if something is not specifically ‘in disrepair’.

Housing Conditions, tenants’ rights – the contents

1. A general introduction
2. The tenants’ rights and the landlord’s obligations
3. Enforcing rights
4. Funding a claim about housing conditions
5. Private and housing association tenant: involving the local council
6. Using the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to tackle poor housing conditions
7. Compensation

About the book

It’s not a snappy read, but then few legal textbooks are. But it is very, very authoritative.  If you are a tenant of poor housing or a legal advisor advising tenants (or their landlords) – then this is the book you want to have on your desk.

It will tell you what the law is, what your rights are, what compensation you can expect and the options for funding your claim.

It is highly recommended.

My debt to ‘Housing Conditions tenants rights’

I am particularly grateful to have a copy on my desk as it has been enormously helpful to me in the development of my new online course Managing Your Rented Property Within the Law. So thank you Jan, Catherine and Giles!

So impressed was I that I have persuaded the people at LAG to let me offer the book at a 20% discount to students on my course, along with four other books (the Housing Law Casebook, Quiet Enjoyment, Defending Possession Proceedings and the Housing Law Handbook).

If you buy my course you will find them all in the course bookshop linked from the main course dashboard.  The discount will be available until early December.

If you are not on the course, then you can buy the book for £60 or £57 on Kindle here.