Author page

Who writes this site

Everything on The Landlord Alliance is written by James Nicholson — a working landlord in England, not an agency copywriter and not a law firm marketing department. The guides describe the law accurately and cite primary sources, but they are written from the position of someone who has to comply with it himself.

About James Nicholson

I am a private landlord in England and the founder of The Landlord Alliance, a membership platform built to help landlords stay compliant and organised without paying agency fees for the privilege.

I started The Landlord Alliance because the information available to landlords was, and largely still is, poor. Trade bodies publish material aimed at protecting their own membership proposition. Law firms publish briefings pitched at other lawyers. Letting agents publish content designed to convince you that managing your own property is impossible. Very little of it is written by someone who actually has to serve the notice, chase the arrears, or work out what a rule change costs on a specific property.

That gap is what this site exists to fill. When I write about the twelve-month re-letting ban under ground 1A, the numbers in the table are from my own three-bed in Hastings, because those are the numbers I can vouch for. When I say most landlords misunderstand what happened on 1 May 2026, it is because I answer that question repeatedly in our community.

How these guides are written

Legal accuracy on this site is not a matter of opinion, so the process is deliberately boring:

Sources
  • Primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk
  • Commencement regulations, cited by SI number
  • Official GOV.UK guidance
  • Prescribed forms from the current regulations
What we do not do
  • Repeat other landlord blogs without checking
  • Describe provisions not yet in force as though they apply
  • State a penalty figure we cannot source
  • Publish anything about Wales or Scotland as if it were England
Every page states
  • That it applies to England only
  • The date it was last updated
  • Which provisions are not yet in force
  • The primary sources behind the key claims
Where we draw the line
  • This is information, not legal advice
  • We say when something is unsettled
  • We say when you should take advice
  • We correct pages when the law moves

The “not yet in force” point deserves emphasis, because it is where most landlord content currently fails. A large amount of what is published about the Renters’ Rights Act describes the PRS database, the landlord ombudsman and Awaab’s Law as current obligations. None of them are in force. Telling a landlord to register on a database that does not exist is not a small error — it wastes their time and undermines trust in everything else on the page.

Corrections

If you find something on this site that is wrong, out of date, or unclear, tell me and I will fix it. Legislation changes, commencement dates move, and guidance is updated — a page that was right in May can be wrong by August. Pages carry a last-updated date so you can see how current what you are reading actually is.

Get in touch through the contact page.

What I write about

The Renters’ Rights ActWhat changed on 1 May 2026, what hasn’t happened yet, and what it costs. Section 8 grounds for possessionAll 32 grounds, notice periods, evidence and the court process. Tenancy agreementsWhat a compliant 2026 agreement contains, and what to delete from old ones. Rent increasesSection 13, Form 4A, and what happens at tribunal.

The Landlord Alliance

Compliance tracking, current documents and a community of landlords working it out together. £10 a month, first month free.

See what’s included

Content on this site relates to England only unless stated otherwise, and is general information rather than legal advice.