It sometimes happens that relationships between a landlord and tenant become strained. Tenants renting a property from a private landlord are protected against harassment and illegal eviction as the law against harassment and illegal eviction applies to all people living in residential property.
The law makes it an offence to:
Do acts likely to interfere with the peace or comfort of a tenant / licensee or anyone living with them; or
Persistently withdraw or withhold services which the tenant / licensee needs to live in the property as a home.
Are you having serious problems with a landlord or someone acting on their behalf? If what they are doing counts as harassment or illegal eviction, they may be committing a serious offence and may be prosecuted. If your landlord does something that interferes with you living in your home and intendeds to make you leave they could be guilty of harassment. An illegal eviction takes place if your landlord makes you leave your home without following the proper legal process.
Harassment can take many forms and can include:
These or any acts which are likely to put pressure on your tenant to leave the property could be classed as harassment, which is a criminal and civil offence.
The information above relates to harassment in a housing/tenancy situation. There are many forms of harassment, which happens when a person subjects another to harassment where he or she engages in unwanted and unwarranted conduct which has the purpose or effect of:
(a) violating that other's dignity, or
(b) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that other.
Harassment may involve repeated forms of unwanted and unwarranted behaviour, but a one-off incident can also amount to harassment. Acts of harassment may be unlawful. Harassment on grounds of sex, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or age may amount to unlawful discrimination. Harassment may also breach other legislation and may in some circumstances be a criminal offence e.g. under the provisions of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
Landlords, your right to get your property back from a tenant can normally only be enforced through the courts. If you are seeking possession from an assured or assured shorthold tenant you must serve a notice on the tenant of your intention to seek possession. The amount of notice you must give depends on the reasons why you are seeking possession and the rent payment cycle. It will be either two weeks or two months, for more information see the How to End a Tenancy document (pdf 42.36kb).
In either case, the tenant/licensee is not required to leave the property until the notice expires, and even then cannot be evicted without a court order. If a landlord obtains an order for possession from the court by misrepresenting or concealing the true facts and the tenant/licensee proves this in court, the court can order the Landlord to compensate the tenant. To force a tenant out of the property by any means other than with a court order could be illegal eviction, which is a criminal and civil offence. You cannot change the locks or force your tenant/licensee out by other means.
If violence is used or threatened, call the police on 999.
