Selective licensing breach as tenant leverage: the council enforcement walkthrough (RRA Day 8, May 2026)
Selective licensing is one of the quietest superpowers a private renter has, and most tenants do not know it exists. In dozens of council areas across England, every privately let property has to be licensed by the council. A landlord letting an unlicensed property faces a fine of up to GBP 30,000, a criminal offence, and now a rent repayment order of up to twelve months' rent under the expanded Renters' Rights Act regime. This walkthrough is the tenant-side playbook: confirming the scheme, checking the public register, an FOI template, the council enforcement route, and the parallel RRO claim - all from paperwork failure.
Harassment and quiet enjoyment: the tenant remedy walkthrough under the Renters' Rights Act (RRA Day 8, May 2026)
Changing locks. Withholding services. Late-night doorstep visits. Removing belongings. Each is a possible breach of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and the common-law covenant of quiet enjoyment, and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 has sharpened the financial consequences for landlords. This walkthrough is the tenant-side escalation ladder: contemporaneous diary, written cease-and-desist letter, council Tenancy Relations Officer, county court injunction, police complaint, and how to evidence each step. Includes a cease-and-desist letter template and a one-page evidence-gathering checklist.
Tenant counter-evidence pack for tribunal rent challenges under the Renters' Rights Act: the build-it-yourself walkthrough (RRA Day 8, May 2026)
A Form 4A has landed on the doormat and the rent your landlord is proposing feels steep. The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is free to apply to, the comparable data is online, and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 has tipped the playing field your way in two important respects - the tribunal can no longer set the rent higher than the landlord proposed, and decisions no longer backdate to the notice. This walkthrough is the tenant-side build-it-yourself counter-evidence pack: the four-section structure (comparables, condition, market context, narrative), where to find Rightmove and Zoopla evidence, the Decent Homes / EPC / damp leverage layer, the deadline calendar, and a clean cover-note template for the bundle.