Straight answers. Then the guide behind each one.

An improvement notice orders works by a date and is an offence to ignore. A hazard awareness notice tells you about a hazard and asks you to deal with it, with no deadline and no offence. Both go on the council's file. An improvement notice is also registered as a local land charge. A hazard awareness notice isn't. Read the guide

21 days from the date it was served, to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). The appeal suspends the notice. After 21 days the notice is operative and your options narrow to complying or asking the council to vary it. Read the guide

Yes. Section 49 of the Housing Act 2004 lets the council recover its reasonable costs of serving an improvement notice, prohibition order or hazard awareness notice. The charge stands even if you then comply. Where the notice itself can be appealed, the charge can be challenged in the same appeal. Read the guide

A hazard scoring 1,000 or more under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. It shows as High on assessments since 23 June 2026 and as bands A to C on older ones. If the council finds one it has a duty to take enforcement action, and since 22 June 2026 it can add a civil penalty of up to £7,000. Category 2 hazards, Medium and Low, give it a power but not a duty. Read the guide

Tell the council in writing straight away, with the dates you asked for access and the refusals. Being prevented from complying by the occupier is a reasonable excuse defence, but only if you can show you tried. The council can also help by writing to the tenant. Read the guide

£40,000 per offence for Housing Act 2004 offences and the more serious Renters' Rights Act conduct. £7,000 for first or minor Renters' Rights Act breaches and for the category 1 hazard penalty brought in on 22 June 2026. Offences need proof beyond reasonable doubt. Most of the £7,000 Renters' Rights Act penalties need beyond reasonable doubt as well. Only the discrimination and rental bidding ones are decided on the balance of probabilities. Either way the council has to follow its published policy. Read the guide

You don't have to, but the 28 days for written representations is the only stage where the council is obliged to consider your side before deciding. Representations made properly against the council's own policy matrix often reduce the amount substantially. Read the guide

No. It's served under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and doesn't need a housing hazard. There has to be a written warning first, and the appeal to the magistrates' court has to be lodged within 21 days of the notice. Read the guide

If it's inside the 16 designated wards on the 2022 boundaries and let to tenants, yes, unless it holds an HMO licence or is exempt. The council's postcode lookup is the reliable check. The current scheme ends on 31 March 2027. The council is consulting until 5 October 2026 on what replaces it, and a city-wide scheme is one of three options. Read the guide

Five or more people in two or more households sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, anywhere in England. Liverpool has no additional licensing scheme, so three and four person HMOs don't need an HMO licence, but they still need a selective licence if they're in a designated area, and the management regulations and room standards apply to them. Read the guide

It's an offence. The council can prosecute or impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000. Tenants can claim a rent repayment order of up to 24 months' rent for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026. A conviction can lead to a banning order. A complete application submitted and paid protects you while it's processed. Read the guide

6.51 square metres for one adult, 10.22 for two, 4.64 for a child under ten. Floor area under a ceiling lower than 1.5 metres doesn't count. These are national minimums for licensed HMOs and councils can set higher amenity standards. Read the guide

Inside the Article 4 direction area, yes, even for a small HMO of three to six people. HMOs for seven or more always need permission. A licence and planning permission are separate and you need both. Read the guide

The licence holder should be the most appropriate person, usually the owner or the person receiving the rent. Agents can hold licences but the owner remains a person in control. Whoever holds it needs a UK address for service. Read the guide

Up to five years for both selective and HMO licences. It's tied to the property and the licence holder and can't be transferred, so a sale means a new application and a change of manager has to be notified to the council. Read the guide

It became a periodic assured tenancy by operation of law. No paperwork was needed to convert it. The tenant can leave on two months' notice and you can only end it through section 8 grounds. Read the guide

No. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026. Serving one after that date is a breach with a penalty of up to £7,000. Possession now goes through the rebuilt section 8 grounds. Read the guide

A document with prescribed content that must be given before a new tenancy is entered into. Tenancies that already existed in writing on 1 May 2026 didn’t need one. Those tenants had to be given the government information sheet by 31 May 2026 instead. Only wholly oral tenancies needed a written statement by that date. Missing the one that applied is a breach per tenancy. Read the guide

Once a year with a section 13 notice on the prescribed form giving two months' notice. The tenant can refer it to the tribunal, which can confirm or reduce the figure but not increase it. Rent review clauses in agreements no longer work. Read the guide

No. Blanket bans and discrimination on those grounds are prohibited and carry a civil penalty. You can still take an affordability and referencing decision on the individual. Read the guide

One month, once the tenancy agreement is signed. A deposit of up to five weeks' rent is separate and still has to be protected. Read the guide

No. The Renters' Rights Act lets tenants request a pet and stops you refusing without a good reason, but the clause allowing landlords to require pet insurance was removed before the Act passed. Requiring it, or a pet deposit, breaches the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Pet damage comes out of the ordinary deposit. Read the guide

A tribunal order making you repay rent to the tenant, or the council, for a qualifying offence such as letting without a licence. Up to 24 months' rent for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026, 12 months for earlier ones. No conviction is needed but the criminal standard of proof applies. Read the guide

The Register your rental property service opens on 15 December 2026 and rolls out by region, starting with the West Midlands. North West landlords have until 14 August 2027 to register and can do it early. It costs £65 per property per year. The landlord ombudsman is expected in 2028. Read the guide

A consultation notice your freeholder must serve before works that will cost any leaseholder more than £250, or before a long-term contract costing more than £100 a year. There are three stages, the first two with 30-day observation periods. If it's not followed, your contribution is capped unless the tribunal grants dispensation. Read the guide

Service is a real point. The regulations require the notice to be given to each leaseholder. A notice to an old address or the wrong flat may mean the consultation wasn't carried out, which caps the charge unless dispensation is granted. Check whether you'd notified the landlord of your correct address. Read the guide

You can dispute it. The landlord can't forfeit over a disputed service charge until a tribunal or court decides it's payable, but it can sue for the money, so paying under protest and then applying to the tribunal is often the safer route. Make the protest clear in writing and it doesn't stop you challenging the charge. Read the guide

Section 20B. Costs incurred more than 18 months before the demand can't be recovered unless the landlord told you in writing within the 18 months that costs had been incurred and you'd have to contribute. Read the guide

Yes. The landlord's name and address, an address in England and Wales for service, and the summary of rights and obligations under section 21B. Without them the sum isn't due until they're provided. Read the guide

It lets you ask the tribunal to order that the landlord can't put its legal costs of the case onto the service charge. Ask for it in the application. There's a matching power for administration charges. Read the guide

Yes, as a leaseholder of a registered provider, about how it handled a matter. The ombudsman won't decide if a charge is reasonable, that's the tribunal, but it enforces the Complaint Handling Code timescales: ten working days at stage 1, 20 at stage 2. Read the guide

At least 50% of the qualifying leaseholders if you need a tribunal certificate. The 2018 regulations bar the tribunal from certifying an association below that, except where the landlord has ignored a tribunal order to provide information. A landlord can recognise you voluntarily on any number. The same regulations let you make the landlord circulate the other leaseholders so you can reach them. Read the guide

No. Landlord Services NW prepares documents, deals with councils and freeholders and acts as a lay representative where a tribunal allows. When a matter needs a solicitor, such as possession proceedings or a prosecution, we say so and refer you.

Every service has a published price. We confirm it in writing before you commit and it doesn't change for that job. We're not VAT registered, so there's no VAT on top. Tribunal, court and Land Registry fees are charged at cost on top and confirmed before you pay them. Council licence fees are paid by you direct to the council.

Bank transfer, in full, when you confirm the engagement. No cards and no payment links. Work starts when the transfer has arrived.

Within one working day of receiving the documents. We work from what you send rather than a phone call, so include any certificates, photos and correspondence, and tell us the deadline on the notice.

Document work, yes, anywhere in England. Site visits and works through Act Now Energy are Merseyside and the North West only.