Q. I served a possession notice on my tenants the other day and they told me they had read that I cannot issue proceedings against them unless I had first paid for us to try to resolve things via mediation. Is this correct?

A. No. The government have indicated that they will be issuing a new ‘pre-action protocol’ for private residential eviction cases and it is anticipated that this may require landlords to try to resolve issues with tenants by negotiation before issuing proceedings.

However, at the time of writing the pre-action protocol has not been published.  

In anticipation of the pre-action protocol coming into force, the Property Redress Scheme has launched a paid mediation service, but this is not mandatory for landlords.

Q. My tenants have told me that they now have to work from home, three days per week for their employer. Their work is computer based. Is this something I should agree to?