Harassment and illegal
eviction
Regardless of the type of tenancy
agreement you have you are legally entitled to enjoy your home in
peace and quiet and to exercise your rights as a tenant. This mean
that your landlord should not invade your quiet enjoyment of your
home.
There are many forms of harassment, for comprehensive
or detailed information on harassment you should contact your
Local Service Centre.
What is
harassment?
Harassment is any action/invasion that interferes, directly or
indirectly, with the peace and comfort of the tenant and their
family. A criminal offence is committed if a landlord or anyone
acting on his/her behalf intentionally or knowingly harasses an
occupier to cause him/her to leave.
The following are examples of harassment:
Disconnecting, withdrawing or restricting services e.g. water,
gas, electricity and hot water and/or heating
- Persistent visits or telephone calls e.g. constantly contacting
you to request rent owed
- Entering your home without your permission while you are a
lawful tenant e.g. landlord letting himself in to collect mail
- Landlord opening your mail
- Leaving the property uninhabitable after starting repairs
- Excluding a tenant from a part of their home e.g. landlord
taking over one of your rooms
- Constant threats of eviction
- Violent, sexual or racial abuse
- Verbal abuse and/or physical assault
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What is illegal eviction?
Illegal eviction is where a landlord (or someone acting on his/her
behalf) excludes a tenant form part or all of their home or does
something designed to cause the tenant to leave the property.
If your landlord wants you to leave and you do not have anywhere to
go or you do not wish to leave then you usually have the right to
remain until a court order is issued. If the landlord does not take
the necessary legal action and does one of the following then
he/she will be unlawfully evicting you:
- Changing the locks so that you cannot enter the property
- Removing you and/or your belongings from the property
- Excludes you from any part of your home
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What is the legal
procedure for eviction?
The type of tenancy
agreement you hold determines the way your landlord can require you
to leave your home. It is therefore important that you seek housing
advice early if your landlord is threatening to evict you.
In most cases however, before a landlord can regain possession
of his/her property s/he must serve you with a Notice (usually a
Notice Seeking Possession). The notice must contain certain
information. including the ground(s) for possession. When the
notice expires you may continue to remain in your home until your
landlord obtains a Possession Order from the County Court. Should
you remain in the property after a Possession Order is made, the
Order can only be enforced by a Warrant of Execution which gives
the Court Bailiffs power to remove you from the property.
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What should I do
if I am being harassed or my landlord has illegally evicted
me?
The London Borough of Newham seeks
to ensure a high standard of quality in the private rented sector.
It is therefore important to make sure that landlords meet their
obligations and responsibilities. This means taking steps to
address unlawful harassment and eviction. You should therefore
report such cases to the Council.
If you feel your landlord is harassing you it is very important to
keep a record of events. You should note details of all relevant
incidences (what happened, when and where and details of witnesses
if any) and keep all letters and documents relating to
harassment.
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Is
there a legal remedy?
A victim of harassment
and/or illegal eviction can take legal action against the
perpetrator to:
- Obtain an injunction to stop the harassment
- Obtain an injunction to be reinstated in their home
- Obtain damages (financial compensation) for their landlord's
action
IF YOU ARE ON A LOW WAGE OR UNEMPLOYED YOU CAN CLAIM
LEGAL AID TO PAY YOUR SOLICITOR'S LEGAL COSTS.
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What can the Council
do?
The Council can investigate the matter. If there is sufficient
evidence to indicate that a landlord (or persons acting on the
landlord's behalf) to harass you in your home or to illegally evict
you, the Council has the power to prosecute. We view unlawful
eviction and harassment as serious offences and where possible will
seek to prosecute the perpetrator. It is a criminal offence for
anyone to harass you in order to get you to leave your home. The
council is unlikely to prosecute if you if you do not wish to take
legal action or it is not in the public's interest to prosecute the
perpetrator.
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What should I
do if I'm in an
emergency?
If your landlord (or anyone acting on his/her behalf) attempts to
unlawfully evict you should call the Police and contact the
Housing Options Centre. If this incident happens outside office
hours you should contact our emergency out of hours number 020 8552
9587.
When the Police arrive they should:
- Take details
- Advise the landlord of the correct way of gaining possession of
the property
- Warn the perpetrator that they might be committing a criminal
offence, which will be reported
- Ask everyone to put things back as they were
- Refer everyone to the council's Housing Options
Centre
In certain cases the police can arrest the person trying to gain
entry to the property against your wishes. You should obtain a
crime reference number and the numbers of the officers that
attended the incident.