This week I return to work from maternity leave and in addition to the bonus of engagement of my brain and having adult conversation, I welcome the escape from daytime television, which appears to be littered with programmes documenting the shenanigans of enforcement agents (more commonly known as bailiffs or sheriffs).

In this uncertain time of very high property prices and a very low likelihood of getting a mortgage it is shocking to see the number of properties that sit empty. The housing crisis and the number of empty properties has led to people “squatting” in other people’s empty homes. This can lead to people losing their homes through a claim for adverse possession.

Assured Shorthold Tenancies (“ASTs”) were introduced by the Housing Act (“HA”) 1988. The apparent purpose of their introduction was to effectively “swing the pendulum of control” in favour of landlords in the private sector. Prior to the HA 1988 many tenancies took the form of ‘prescribed and statutory’ tenancies.

On 17th June 2016 the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment in the case of Mortgage Express v Lambert which concerned a dispute between a mortgagee that was seeking possession of a property from an occupier, Ms Lambert who was not the registered owner. Ms Lambert claimed she had an interest in the property which was an “overriding interest” and therefore took priority over the mortgage company’s interest.

The Deregulation Act 2015 has been in force since October 2015, so why should landlords only take heed of it now? Because the Act only applied to tenancies granted after 1st October 2015. The new Act provides that you cannot serve a s21 notice seeking possession within the first 4 months (of any tenancy commencing from 1st October 2015). This means that the first available date for service under the new Act is after 1st February 2016.