Pro bono collaboration with Advice for Renters
Advice for Renters and Legalme announce pilot to improve access to justice for tenants
Legalme is pleased to announce its collaboration with Advice for Renters, a London-based charity that has been working since 1989 to transform the private renting sector through specialist legal advice services for tenants on low incomes, as well as through campaigning policy makers.
Over 33 years ago, a group of private renters who wanted to work collectively for better housing conditions set up the Brent Private Tenants Rights Group – known today as Advice for Renters. Since then they have succeeded in improving conditions and protections for tenants across the UK. After helping to establish The Association of Housing Advice Services in 1994, the organisation then lobbied MPs to provide amendments to the Housing Bill Committee to limit the damage to tenants’ rights in the Housing Act 1996. Following this, they succeeded in getting The Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 passed, which caps rent increases for regulated tenants.
After years of campaigning, Advice for Renters was pivotal in getting licensing for large Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) into the Housing Act 2004, which also included protection for tenancy deposits – the culmination of another of their lengthy campaigns. They’ve since established ‘Under One Roof’ a project which targets support for renters in fuel poverty and those needing support with money worries; ‘Green Light Laws’ to bring test cases to court which fall outside the scope for legal aid; and became a founding member of the ‘Renters Reform Coalition’, a group of 19 organisations, including the National housing charities, who are on a mission to ensure the Renters Reform Bill delivers a just housing system.
Legalme’s collaboration with Advice for Renters focusses on furthering their capacity to deliver specialist housing advice to its diverse community. Legalme’s virtual assistant reduces the time it takes for Advice for Renters to triage and intake users to a matter of seconds, capturing vital details regarding a tenants’ problem, assessing their legal aid eligibility and ensuring the Advice for Renters team can focus their attention on more strategic and valuable tasks. Furthermore, Legalme’s advanced multilingual support ensures that users of all backgrounds can receive advice in their native language. This pilot also includes plans to further develop a comprehensive toolkit for collecting evidence, generating documents and receiving intelligent advice services, personalised to the details of a user’s problem.
“We are very excited to work with Advice for Renters to support them in their important work for tenants across London, particularly in the midst of a serious cost of living crisis. Legalme believes that every tenant has the right to a safe and affordable home and with help from Allen & Overy, have built a virtual legal assistant to automate the critical services needed for tenants to access justice. The Advice For Renters team’s insight and experience has been invaluable in refining our legal technology to better serve its community and we look forward to maximising both the individual and legislative impact that they can have on the UK rented housing sector.”
Chiara McDermott & Arthur Berkley - Co-Founders at Legalme
