As a landlord and tenant solicitor, part of my life’s work has been ‘translating’ legal rules so they can be properly understood by non-lawyers.

This is important. Ignorance of the law can not (in the vast majority of cases) be a defence to rule-breaking.

But how can you prevent inadvertent rule-breaking if legislation is confusing and unintelligible?

For example – the Welsh housing legislation

I spent a large part of 2021 and 2022 studying the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 before its implementation in December 2022. Even for me, accustomed to reading legislation, it was not an easy task.

It was not so much the actual language that was the problem but the excessive cross-referencing.

I have three monitors for my work computer, but I really needed about six to be able to follow the legislation properly!

The unfair contract terms rules

We have since 1994 had legislation to compel draftsmen drafting consumer contracts to use ‘plain English’.

Surely we should have something similar for our legislation? Arguably more important than contracts as it applies to all of us.

I suspect much legislation would be deemed unenforceable under the plain English rules, now part of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

I discussed this previously on this blog in 2006 and in 2010.

Government guidance

In recent years new legislation has come with helpful government guidance, which explains the legislation and how it is intended to be used.

However, this guidance, although it has some legal force, is not necessarily binding on Judges. If they consider that the guidance is wrong, this will not stop them from making a contrary decision.

Which will justifiably annoy those who have followed its advice!

Would it not be better to make our legislation clearer in the first place?

Making legislation clearer

I appreciate that this is not an easy matter.

Legislation needs to be consistent – which is why we have all that cross referencing

It also needs to be couched in language which makes its intention clear – and often this is considered easier if wording is used which has been approved by Judges in previous cases.

However, this is writing legislation for lawyers rather than for ordinary people.

Then there is the fact that our language is exceptionally rich, with many words having multiple meanings—one of the basis of our humour. This means it is a tough ask to draft a sentence that will only have one meaning in all circumstances.

But all this notwithstanding, surely it must be possible to create legislation which is clear, consistent and comprehensible to non lawyers of average intelligence?

Some suggestions

• Definitions are important, but maybe they should be confined to just one part of the act so all cross-referencing will go to the same palace. This is often done but not always.
• Cross-referencing should be avoided  if at all possible and only used if absolutely necessary
• Simple language alone should be used. With short sentences. A practice, incidentally, of the late Lord Denning, one of our great legal writers.
• There should be legal notes drafted for the lawyers making it clear how the legislation is intended to be interpreted, which should also have statutory force.
• Legislation should be stress tested by panels drawn from the public, who should be asked to comment on the draft legislation.
• Maybe they could answer a multiple-choice questionnaire with different interpretations of the wording to see how many choose the correct answer.
• Finally – most legislation is followed by secondary ‘statutory instruments’ which explain in more detail how the ‘top level’ law is intended to work. However it is not always easy to find them.  Can the government’s legislation site provide, alongside the main legislation, a list of all the statutory instruments which relate to it. This will make it much easier for people to find the details that they need.

Why this matters

This plea may seen less relevant to many, given all the difficult problems this new Labour government have before them.

However many of these problems are to be resolved by legislation. Legislation, which is clear beyond doubt to all who read it, will be much more effective than legislation which is hard to understand.

Difficult legislation:

• May need a serious of challenges through the courts before it can be properly understood (which could take many years), and
• Like the tenancy deposit rules brought in with the Housing Act 2004, may require further amendments if court decisions go against government intentions.

Something I am sure this government will want to avoid.

Clarity in legislation – a human right?

This new Labour government is a government for ordinary people. People who, in most cases, can’t afford lawyers to explain the law to them.

Surely it is only right that our legislation, which is binding on us all and which we are all expected to know and abide by, should be clear beyond doubt?

The post Message to Government – Legislation needs to be clear and understandable by ordinary people appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

So, we have a new government.  The Starmer government.

But there is still a lot of negativity around.

False extrapolation

There is a tendency among people to extrapolate:

• Your son lounges around in his room all day, and his friends appear to be lazy layabouts. Therefore ALL young people are lazy good for nothings
• Your work brings you into contact with terrible landlords who charge a fortune for disgusting premises, threatening retaliatory eviction if their tenants dare complain. Therefore, ALL landlords must be overcharging and refusing to comply with their legal obligations.
• Many millionaires and billionaires are selfish, self-entitled crooks who concentrate on moving their ill-gotten gains to wherever they will pay the least tax rather than contributing to society.  So this must be the case with ALL millionaires and billionaires

And having experienced 14 years of austerity, sleaze and poor governance from our late Troy government, this means that ALL politicians are sleazy chancers only in it for what they can get and indifferent to the woes of the working class

But this is WRONG

• As always, some young people are lazy, but most are hard-working and decent,
• Some landlords are bad or even criminal, but there are many landlords who work hard to provide decent accommodation for their tenants and who care deeply about their welfare
• Yes, some millionaires and billionaires are busy fleeing the UK, fearful that they may be asked to pay a bit more tax. However, others have actually asked to be taxed more

You cannot judge all people by the behaviour of the few.

So what about politicians?

In vox pop after vox pop, people ‘ordinary people’, are seen saying that they don’t believe politicians any more and that they are ‘all the same’. Making promises they don’t keep and being ‘out for themselves’.

But like our young people, landlords and millionaires, this is not true of ALL politicians. Although, after 14 years of Tory rule, it’s understandable why many feel like this.

However, call me stupid, but I believe that Keir Starmer and his cabinet are different.

For a start, NONE of them went to Eton. Many, such as Angela Rayner, Bridget Phillipson, Wes Streeting, and Keir Starmer himself, grew up in working-class families where money was tight.

They are much closer in their life experiences to the rest of us.

What about Sir Keir?

Unlike most of his Tory Prime Minster predecessors, he did not attend Private School (both David Cameron and Boris Johnson went to Eton) but a local grammar school. Based on his 11 plus examination results, not his parent’s money.

He did his first degree at Leeds rather than Oxford

What about his work background?

• He was a top civil rights lawyer choosing to ‘help people’ rather than earn lots of money
• He acted ‘pro bono’ (legal term for ‘free’) for deserving cases, in particular in the McLibel case and defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty
• He was an adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board (a key influence in his decision to go into politics), meaning he has a thorough grasp of Northern Ireland politics
• He worked as the Director of Public Prosecutions for 5 years, giving him experience in running a large government department

Surely a better preparation for government than being a journalist or a hedge fund manager?

So I do not agree with the excess of caution with which our press has welcomed the incoming Labour government.

I think Keir Starmer is just what we need, and (frankly) we are bloody lucky to have him.

Rachel Reeves too. It is about time we had a woman Chancellor of the Exchequer.

She too, has a proper background for her job, being a trained economist who previously worked at the Bank of England.

Hope for the future

Having a large majority, the Starmer government should remain in post for at least five years. Which will give us a welcome period of stability.

Given his background of service rather than self-service, I believe Keir Starmmer and his team will (eventually and no doubt with difficulty) steer the country out of its present choppy waters into the calmer seas of fairness and prosperity.

If they get things right, the long-term future could be very bright.

As Andrew Marr, another Keir Starmer optimist, has said, if you look around the world, Britain, under a relatively centrist government, will look like a relatively safe haven for investment. So, a ‘wall of money’ could be coming our way.

This is the Landlord Law Blog. So

What about the private rented sector?

There is a great fear among landlords that this government will be unduly harsh on them. Many are already selling up in fear of this.

However, Sir Keir must know how important the private rented sector is. We really need it. If many landlords leave this will impact badly on tenants. He won’t want this.

Those who have the most to fear will be the bad and criminal landlords, not those who deal fairly with their tenants.

And if the government achieve greater growth as they promise, that must mean fewer rent arrears.

And finally

I suspect that in 10-15 years’ time the Starmer government will have improved the public’s view of politicians so much they may even be willing to trust their future once again to a Conservative government.

Provided, of course, that the Tories have, in the meantime, proved themselves worthy of high office.

The post Election 2024 – The Result – I’m optimistic for a better future appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.