Housing Service
The Housing law service at NLS Legal provides advice and assistance to tenants and mortgagors in need. We provide advice on a pro-bono (free) basis. We carry out affordability checks to ensure that our resources are being targeted appropriately.
We advise on a range of housing matters, including:
- Homelessness;
- Possession/Eviction matters;
- Deposit disputes;
- Disrepair; and
- Rent increases.
We may be able to advise on other matters, subject to capacity. Please make an enquiry for further information.
We provide advice and, subject to a merits assessment and our capacity, ongoing casework including drafting applications and representation at hearings in the county court and the property tribunal. All of our matters will be worked on by a member of NLS Legal staff as well as Nottingham Law School student volunteers. Please note that the Housing service provides advice to those living in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area.
Where applicable, certain cases will be signposted to other firms who can provide assistance under legal aid funding in the first instance.
We cannot advise on conveyancing matters, boundary disputes and easements nor can we provide advice to landlords.
Case study
We assisted a client with a deposit dispute, an area for which there is no legal aid funding available. The relationship between the client and their former landlord had broken down, and we were instructed to negotiate on behalf of our client. On reviewing the case papers, we identified procedural non-compliance by the landlord and advised the client on the resulting options. This allowed us to assist the client to negotiate with the landlord throughout the pre-action stage of their potential claim. The pre-action letter resulted in the landlord almost immediately offering to repay the deposit in full to our client. This prevented the need to issue proceedings, saving our client time and money to pursue this further. It also allowed them to draw a line under this stressful matter and enforce their rights in an effective and efficient manner.