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08 May 2026
Issue: 8160 / Categories: Legal News , Civil way , Procedure & practice , Landlord&tenant , ADR , Personal injury
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NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation

Writing in NLJ this week, Gold surveys the first phase of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, including new possession grounds for landlords wishing to sell properties or house family members, alongside transitional provisions for students and existing tenancies. He notes that contractual rent review clauses are effectively abolished and jokes that the legislation ‘bizarrely’ encourages tenants to challenge rent increases in tribunals.

Elsewhere, Gold highlights the arrival of mandatory accreditation for ADR providers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, complete with a hefty £6,151 application fee.

He also reviews the 18th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines, which increase personal injury compensation brackets and expand aggravating factors in abuse claims. In one eye-catching update, he notes a High Court award of £125,000 in a domestic abuse case that narrowly missed inclusion in the new edition.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

NEWS
More than 100 teams from the legal and financial services sectors competed in five sports at the 51st Law Society RFC Festival of Sport earlier this month
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
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