Evicted, locks changed, no notice...

Mum_of_3_3

Unfortunately I know nothing about renting/letting law, but I was just wondering if it was worth getting a solicitor to go along with you to pick up your belongings? My reasoning behind this is that a solicitor would be a completely independent witness to any disputes that may occur during the exchange of possessions.

There will be some legal eagles here who may know whether a solicitor is indeed necessary or it's ott and that a friend is independent enough.

Good luck with sorting everything out.

M_o_3

dopester

keith969 wrote: »

To the OP: this is kind of odd. No normal LL would change the locks under such circumstances. Is there any reason as to why she has fallen out with you that you have not elaborated on? And given that you visited her before (as you said in your first post), why can't you go back and discuss the issue face to face?

There are many stupid arrogant Landlords.

Take a look at this Magistrate landlord (story below). 8 BTLs across London, and a woman of means, who narrowly escaped a prison sentence recently for acting in a disgraceful way towards her tenants. There are landlords who really think they are beyond the law and treat tenants as scum.

I guess in your dream world it doesn't happen at all? You need to wake up to the real world. These things can and do happen, and you can't automatically rule it out or reserve blame for a tenant who may be fully blameless (a few days late rent isn't good enough reason to say he deserved it.)

She then 'cried like a baby' after she was arrested and put in a police cell, Croydon Crown Court heard.

The judge told Lippiatt, who owns eight buy-to-let properties across London and Surrey, that she was 'a woman of means'.

He fined her £2,000 for the illegal eviction and £250 for the criminal damage. Lippiatt was also ordered to pay £1,900 prosecution costs and defence costs up to £5,000 - making a total of £9,150.

Background: (March 2010) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1258675/Magistrate-tried-evict-naked-Romanian-tenant-throwing-property-downstairs-friend-hurled-racist-abuse.html

Judgement: (April 2010) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264194/Magistrate-ordered-pay-9-000-illegally-evicting-Romanian-tenant.html

lynzpower

teeni wrote: »

If only it did go away , however then I would be out of a job, as i earn my bread taking such landlords to court

I have job envy

On the road myself soon to that area of work ( fingers Xed)

lynzpower

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

Unfortunately I know nothing about renting/letting law, but I was just wondering if it was worth getting a solicitor to go along with you to pick up your belongings? My reasoning behind this is that a solicitor would be a completely independent witness to any disputes that may occur during the exchange of possessions.

There will be some legal eagles here who may know whether a solicitor is indeed necessary or it's ott and that a friend is independent enough.

Good luck with sorting everything out.

M_o_3

My personal feeling is that If I had in writing from my LL that all my belongings had been disposed of then I would be totalling the cost up of every pair of socks, every biro.

That will fall squarely into the arena of Special damages - for any loss that you have made.

You should also record the mileage to go to the property and check ( ie look through the window. A freind would do as an independent witness, if you are lucky you might be able to borrow a PCSO or special constable to go with you if you have them nearby. Take a camera/ video camera as well to document the visit. Especially if your things are inside as the text it clearly designed to cause you distress.

IN case you lose your phone Id take a digital photo of the text messages youve recieved .

teeni

lynzpower wrote: »

I have job envy

On the road myself soon to that area of work ( fingers Xed)

Will keep my fingers xed for you too, it has its moments i can tell you, You get used to being disliked in certain circles.

In the pub one night a local landlord who had just lost £15,000 in damages and costs after I assisted a client in a case of unlawful eviction asked my husband what it was like to be married to a fXXXXXg Rotweiller!!!

Good luck

dopester

ILW wrote: »

I would have thought that as you still have a legal tenancy, you are within your rights to break in and retake possesion, as long as you undertake to repair any damage caused.

The landlord would have caused the reason for the door being damaged, if a tenant did attempt to regain possession this way.

ILW wrote: »

I would have kicked the door in.

I'd have done as the OP has done - and not broken the door down, or found a locksmith to pick the lock open.

If the landlord has acted illegally/criminally by stopping you entering your home having changed the locks and removed your possessions, texting you the information you'd been evicted, and disturbed your peace of mind, wouldn't you have any fears at all they'd bring sons/friends/other heavies if they found out you'd retaken possession?

If she's prepared to have acted in the way she has (accepting OP's events) then I'd be concerned she'd be prepared to go further, especially in anger at the tenant retaking possession.

If she has acted criminally, the landlord needs to pay a big fine to the tenants and go to prison in my opinion. Deprive the landlord of her own home and freedoms for a while - she how she likes the the court (fairly) exerting it's power over her to teach her right from wrong.

What action can be taken?

There are different ways of taking action over acts of harassment and illegal eviction which can, if necessary, all be used together.

• The Housing Advice Team can intervene to try to stop the harassment taking place.
• Bath & North East Somerset Council has the power to prosecute the person responsible in the criminal courts. A fine of up to £5,000 or a prison sentence of up to two years can be ordered on conviction.
• The Housing Standards Team can take action if repairs are needed. They can also order a landlord to re-connect essential services if these have been disconnected.
• Private solicitors can take action on behalf of tenants in the civil courts for compensation (damages). An injunction can be served to stop harassment or to order the landlord to allow an illegally-evicted tenant to re-enter his/her accommodation. The courts have powers to order very high levels of damages (as much as £20,000 in some cases) if residents are prevented from living in their accommodation. Legal Aid may be available to cover all or part of the cost of legal action, depending on income or savings.
• The police can take action where violence and assault, or threats of violence, have taken place. The ‘theft’ of a resident’s possessions may also lead to court action where tenants are evicted by being locked out. The police should always be called to an illegal eviction.

http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/Housing/privatehousing/privatetenantsadvicesupport/HarassmentandIllegalEviction.htm

clutton_2

definitely, most definitely, take a witness with you - one who is willingto write a Witness Statement for the future proceedings should you decide to go that route.

as a LL i have read this thread with utter horror and can only apologise on behalf of the majority of decent landlords in this country....

When you paid over your deposit at the beginning of the tenancy did your LL put it into a Deposit Scheme and give you particulars of that scheme ?

Even if you have no access to your files you can check this out on-line - if she has not registered it, there is another breach of the law.. and you could take her to court for 3 times that deposit.

However, i also would not feel safe going back there, and i expect you just want to find another place, and forget this horror - only you can decide if you have the energy to pursue her through the courts .....

If you can persuade the police to prosecute then they will do all the criminal work..... but you may want to take her to the small claims court ... if you do, then i suggest you talk to a solicitor - (some have a free half hour) to see on what grounds you can sue her.... in addition to the Tenancy Deposit legislation....

if you do, you will get a huge amount of help from this board i'm sure....

if you are in the BANES area i may be able to find the name of a good legal representative, or in the Manchester area similarly......

bw

teeni

hi Clutton wondered where you were on this thread, nice to see one of the decent landlords contributing.

Milliewilly

Touche wrote: »

Senior registrar is an outdated term. As a class of doctor it should no longer exist.

I am a speciality registrar. We are classed as junior doctors. Any doctor other than a consultant is classed as a junior doctor (that included senior registrars).

Here you'll find the junior doctor pay scales:
http://www.bma.org.uk/images/ddrbfacts0910_tcm41-185376.doc

Back in 2008 I was on point 3 of the speciality registrar scale. That is basic salary and does not include the on-call supplement. I have been on a Band 2B supplement for the past few years. That means my salary is multiplied by 1.5 to give my total. You'll find it comes to around £50k.

What my pay has to do with being illegally evicted I have no idea.

On Monday I will start calling all the Senior Registrars junior doctors and see what response I get .

You may consider as a term senior registrar should not exist but it still does and the pay scales are defined accordingly as per your BMA link from April 2009. I apologise if you were offended :beer: but there are lots of walter mitty characters on this board who spout out large salaries and often their posts do not indicate someone on those sorts of earnings.

You have to admit a Speciality Registrar on £50K being evicted after an apparent simple mix up over changing a direct debit that your Landlady has a copy of so she must be party to the security problem causing a minor 6 day delay in payment suddenly leading to locks being changed and an eviction, a lost phone so uncontactable (why not just buy a £20 paygo whilst yours was repaired?) being unable to remember where your landlady's house was (does your Tom Tom not store a list of destinations visited in the memory?) does sound a little strange.......

shellsuit

Milliewilly wrote: »

On Monday I will start calling all the Senior Registrars junior doctors and see what response I get .

You may consider as a term senior registrar should not exist but it still does and the pay scales are defined accordingly as per your BMA link from April 2009. I apologise if you were offended :beer: but there are lots of walter mitty characters on this board who spout out large salaries and often their posts do not indicate someone on those sorts of earnings.

You have to admit a Speciality Registrar on £50K being evicted after an apparent simple mix up over changing a direct debit that your Landlady has a copy of so she must be party to the security problem causing a minor 6 day delay in payment suddenly leading to locks being changed and an eviction, a lost phone so uncontactable (why not just buy a £20 paygo whilst yours was repaired?) being unable to remember where your landlady's house was (does your Tom Tom not store a list of destinations visited in the memory?) does sound a little strange.......

Buy a pay as you go and what?

The OP didn't have the LL's number, so couldn't have contacted her with a new phone, a phone box phone, or Aunty Edna's phone!

And as for your comment on the TomTom ~ the OP said

I used TomTom on my phone

Thesefore, if his phone is broken and in for repair, he wouldn't be able to get hold of a list of his destinations, would he?


Crikey, I wish people would read before they have a dig. :cool:




OP I hope you get this all sorted, the LL is an absolute disgrace, please don't let her get away with this.