Two, quite distinct, bodies have put out some free guides.
The DCLG have released some booklets aimed at private landlords and tenants, giving guidance on requirements and best practice:
Top Tips for Tenants: Assured Shorthold Tenancies
Top Tips for Landlords: Assured Shorthold Tenancies
And
Fact Sheet: Gaining possession of a properly let on an AST
Meanwhile, HLPA (the Housing Law Practitioners Association, in case you didn’t know) have put out some free FAQs on a number of the common but potentially tricky questions that housing advisors can face, including: eligibility for the EEA unemployed; section 21 notice periods; termination of temporary accommodation provided under the full housing duty; suspension from bidding schemes; and more. Well worth a look.
Also, for HLPA members only, there are some precedent letters and pleadings available, for homelessness matters and Children Act support, unlawful eviction and settling possession/eviction cases. These require a HLPA member’s login to access.
Re the HLPA FAQs, I’m not sure the analysis in FAQ 7 is as certain as is being portrayed. I know this has been debated on here before (can’t remember when), and there is a degree of disagreement, but Church Commissioners v Meya would appear to suggest that the date a s.21 notice must expire on is the last day of the period for which rent was last payable, i.e. the day before rent was payable under the tenancy agreement.
We discussed it here:
http://nearlylegal.co.uk/2010/09/period-which-period/
The consensus was statutory periodic arises on the expiry of the fixed term. Rent dates might be different, but so long as the period (monthly, quarterly) is the same, then the period of the statutory is the same (monthly, quarterly) regardless of the actual rent payment dates not coinciding with the dates of the end/start of the periods. So the FAQ is – in our view – right. But there is the potential for further. contrary, decisions.