Housing Law Handbook

With an £85 price tag for almost 1,200 pages, this book is excellent value. And as you might expect, this LAG publication is written from the viewpoint of the residential tenant rather than the investor landlord. What I liked is the ease with which I could navigate through the book. Individual paragraphs are numbered. There are also extensive tables of case law and legislation. The way in which Astin introduces each subject from first principles also makes the content accessible to those who may not have had legal training in the subject, such as housing advisers. 

While the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is adequately covered, this book is not exclusively about renters’ rights. It covers every aspect of housing law, including the rights of long residential leaseholders. There is a focus on the social rented sector, with chapters on homelessness, housing allocation, housing disrepair, as well as human rights issues and asylum. And there is a whole chapter on defending possession claims.

The book addresses the fact that residential tenancy law does not exist in isolation but alongside a wealth of other legislation, including data protection law, social care, universal credit and freedom of Information. In fact, the author even provides a specimen letter from a housing lawyer to a local authority requesting information about an allocation decision.

What particularly caught my attention was how Astin does not shy away from some of the more obscure housing law issues, such as the rights of ‘property guardians’, who are not tenants in the true sense of the word but instead provide a service.

V. Charles Ward is a senior property lawyer with HB Public Law