Harassment
Harassment is when your landlord, or someone else acting for them, does things to try to make you leave your home. It can include:
- stopping the supplies of gas, electricity or water to your home
- refusing to do repairs
- frequent unannounced visits, especially if they are late at night
- entering your home when you are not there without your permission
- making threats and telling you to leave
Remember that your landlord has a legal right to enter your home for inspection and to carry out repairs, but only after giving you at least 24 hours written notice. The inspection must be at a reasonable time, for example, not in the middle of the night.
Unlawful eviction
Unlawful eviction is when your landlord or someone acting for them forces you to leave your home without following the proper legal procedures.
Unless you are sharing part of your accommodation with your landlord, such as a bathroom, kitchen or living room, you can only be forced to leave your home by county court bailiffs.
For this to happen, your landlord must serve a proper written notice telling you that your tenancy is being ended, and then must apply to the county court for a possession order requiring you to leave.
Only the bailiffs can enforce the possession order and force you to leave. It cannot be done by your landlord.
Examples of unlawful eviction can be:
- changing the locks when you are out
- being physically thrown out
- being stopped from getting into part or all of your home
What to do if you are being harassed or are worried about unlawful eviction
Most landlords want to provide good and secure homes for their tenants and have no intention of causing distress to their tenants or of breaking the law.
If you feel that you are being harassed, threatened with unlawful eviction or if you have already been evicted unlawfully, you should contact us.
With your agreement, we will try to contact your landlord and explain the legal situation to them. We will ask your landlord to stop harassing you and, if you have been unlawfully evicted, let you back into your home.
We will also advise you that as a private tenant you can take legal action through your own solicitor.
Usually, this action is sufficient to solve the problem. If it does not work, and where there is enough evidence to show that your landlord's behaviour is illegal, we can choose to prosecute. If this happens you will be asked to make a formal statement and be a witness in court.
Additional advice
If you are suffering harassment or being threatened with unlawful eviction, always keep a diary about what has happened. It is very easy to forget later on and written details will be useful if you want to inform us or your own solicitor about the problems you are dealing with.
Take photographs if you can of anything the landlord may have done, or not done, to make you want to leave.
If your landlord turns up unannounced, you do not need to let them in. If they insist on getting in, call the police.