Landlord and Tenant
Housing Law is one of the most dynamic areas of law that our civil department provides assistance in.
We understand the fear that accompanies legal proceedings that put the security of your home under threat or not knowing what your rights are as a tenant.
Tenants
One of the most common issues is being at risk of losing your home because your landlord has started possession proceedings or applied for a warrant to evict you from your home. Our aim is to provide you with detailed advice about the situation and help you through court proceedings.
We appreciate the stress caused to your daily life if you are facing homelessness and have a family you are responsible for, in which case we can give advice about where you stand legally and how far the council has a duty to help.
We are also able to help if any accommodation that has been provided for you is not suitable for your needs.
One of the most common problems and greatest causes of stress is suffering nuisance, harassment, disputes or anti-social behaviour from neighbours.
Mediation is extremely helpful to try to repair a deteriorating relationship with a neighbour and as such prevent a minor misunderstanding from escalating into full-blown, expensive and time-consuming litigation.
Disrepair is also a problem that leads to numerous enquiries by tenants. If you are living in unpleasant conditions or your landlord is failing to carry out repairs to your home, this can be extremely upsetting and stressful. Our job is to get your landlord to carry out repairs as required in law.
Clarke Kiernan Solicitors prides itself on being one of the few firms in Kent that has a legal aid franchise with the Legal Aid Agency to provide advice and assistance to tenants with housing problems. We will assess all clients for eligibility for public funding.
Landlords
The buy-to-let market has seen more people becoming a landlord, and not knowing what these responsibilities are could see you falling foul of the law.
We assist landlords by providing advice in connection with all the legal steps involved in commencing a tenancy right up to ensuring the correct legal procedures are followed to bring the tenancy to an end. These obligations are extremely important as failure to abide by them is one of the most common basis of litigation against landlords. Even well-meaning landlords can be saddled with heavy financial penalties in damages to their tenants.
Whether you are a landlord with a single property for let or a number of properties, we can provide you with guidance to ensure you are always compliant with your legal obligations. We advise on a full range of issues including relocations and lettings for clients in all sectors, property management matters, property dispute resolutions and terms and conditions of tenancy agreements.
We provide attractive funding packages and fixed fee arrangements for our clients including letting agents to relieve the stress of dealing with difficult tenants. Some of our clients have multi-million-pound property investments.