The National Approved Letting Scheme is linking with legal firm Moore Blatch to offer member agents access to a free legal helpline and support.

The association says that with agents and landlords now having to abide by over 145 Acts of Parliament, health and safety requirements, and hundreds of different regulations, the task of looking after private rented property is increasingly complicated.

NALS says the free legal helpline is available to its agents via telephone and email with queries handled by a specialist team within Moore Blatch who provide advice and support “in plain English” to help agents understand and apply the law appropriately to their cases. 

NALS firms can also buy a fixed-fee licence from Moore Blatch to use a full range of standard documents; a tailor-made online service offering automated Section 8 and Section 21 notices as well as issuing proceedings for possession, eviction and debt recovery; and an online service producing legally-enforceable notices, letters and court documents on solicitors’ headed paper.

NALS chief executive Isobel Thomson says the service comes at a “challenging time for agents” with the legal landscape “constantly changing, and at times confusing.”