Blog
Expert guides on tenant rights, rent increases, and the Section 13 process in England.
Right to Rent on the new periodic tenancy: the re-check trap and Ground 7B tenant defence (RRA, 2026)
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 did not amend the Immigration Act 2014 but it changed the tenancy architecture around it. Fixed-term renewals are largely gone. Tenancies just continue. The landlord's Right-to-Rent re-check obligation does not stop at the fixed term - it carries on perpetually. And Ground 7B (a no-right-to-rent Home Office notice) is a mandatory 2-week ground that survived the RRA reforms unchanged. This walkthrough covers the new re-check reality, what documents the landlord can and cannot ask for (the data-minimisation point), the three failure patterns appearing in early-RRA cases, the Subject Access Request route to evidence whether a Home Office notice actually exists, and the procedural letter that gets a defective Ground 7B withdrawn.
The agent is sitting on your holding deposit: the 7-day rule tenant walkthrough (2026)
A holding deposit is the small payment - capped at one week's rent - that a renter hands over to a letting agent to take a property off the market while referencing runs. In a clean transaction it rolls into the first month's rent. In a messy one, the deal falls through and the agent goes quiet. This walkthrough covers the two clocks (the 15-day deadline for agreement and the 7-day refund clock), the four lawful retention categories under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the three patterns that drive most unlawful retentions, the chase letter template, and the three escalation routes (Trading Standards, small claims, redress scheme).
An N5 possession claim has landed: the tenant walkthrough through the 14-day defence window (RRA, 2026)
An N5 dropping through the letterbox is not an eviction - it is the start of a legal process the tenant gets to take part in. The court has sent the tenant a copy because the tenant has a right to be heard. This walkthrough covers the 14-day defence clock from the date of service, how to read the N5 for the substantive ground and the procedural validity strands, the three failure patterns appearing most often in early-RRA cases (Ground 1A inside the 12-month bar, Ground 8 arrears bundled with a defective Form 4A, missing deposit protection), how to fill in the N11R defence form section by section, the witness-statement skeleton, and what to bring to the hearing.