Evict a rogue Landlord - Shelter...

Brb

It is rather eye-watering! wonder if the tenants ever saw any of that money though.

lynzpower

Brb wrote: »

It is rather eye-watering! wonder if the tenants ever saw any of that money though.

if the LL cant pay it, does he have to go bankrupt? Or what?

At the least he could have sold the flat the poor tenants were living in and given them the cash??

does anyone have any further info about this? If court awards these damages, is it then down to appointed bailiffs to recover the money if the LL isnt forthcoming with the money?

188k has to hurt, any which way.

lynzpower

Did we highlight this case from esteemed freinds at nearly legal? This is regarding the role of the police in illegal eviction cases:

Naughton v Whittle and Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. Manchester County Court 30/11/2009 (Legal Action July 2010)

The tendency of the police to be utterly useless in cases of unlawful eviction has been a recurrent motif on Nearly Legal. They either do nothing, saying that it is a civil matter, or on occasion remove keys from the tenant. In this case, reported in July’s Legal Action Housing Updates, for which many thanks, the police did take further steps. Unfortunately, they took steps in entirely the wrong direction and ended up paying for it.

Mr Naughton had been occupying a property for some 15 months. In March 2006, Ms Whittle, apparently the owner, orally told him to leave in about 3 weeks time. Two weeks later, Ms Whittle’s brother told Mr N he would be put out of the property if he refused to leave. On the date he had been told to leave, Ms Whittle accosted Mr N’s girlfriend and grabbed the keys to the property, injuring the girlfriend’s hand. Mr N returned home to find the locks being changed.

The police were called and, helpfully, threatened Mr N with arrest for breach of the peace. The police then physically removed Mr N from the property and he was locked out. He did get to return twice on later dates to collect belongings.

Mr N brought claims against Ms W and the Chief Constable, the latter for trespass to person.

The Chief Constable settled for £2,500. Ms W defended on the basis that it wasn’t a tenancy, there being no rent paid, or that occupation had been temporary pending negotiations for a substantive tenancy agreement. The Court found there was a tenancy and a weekly rent.

Damages
£7,700 – being £275 per day for the 28 days deprived of occupation before finding new accommodation
£1,500 aggravated damages.
No set off of the settlement by the police against damages awarded against Ms W – ‘each tortfeasor must pay appropriate damages for the wrong done’.

To any police officers who may happen to read this, it is not difficult. Unlawful eviction is an indictable criminal offence – Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1.

If someone has belongings in a property and has a key for the property, it is an odds on bet that they have a right to reside there and fall under the Protection from Eviction Act (not certain, granted, but more likely than not). So, if the landlord isn’t armed with the required court orders, it is not a good idea to a) assist the landlord, b) take the keys from the occupant, c) physically remove the occupant from the property or d) arrest the occupant because they won’t leave.

In fact, if the occupant has a tenancy agreement and the landlord doesn’t have court orders, you may want to consider actually arresting the landlord…

theartfullodger

lynzpower wrote: »

if the LL cant pay it, does he have to go bankrupt? Or what?

At the least he could have sold the flat the poor tenants were living in and given them the cash??

does anyone have any further info about this? If court awards these damages, is it then down to appointed bailiffs to recover the money if the LL isnt forthcoming with the money?

188k has to hurt, any which way.

Dunno 4 sure but I think it is then down to the party-owed-£££ to pursue the debtor if debtor doesn't pay voluntarily... (I could guess what happened with this one..).

In my experience one needs diligence, steely determination, patience, time and a little money to pursue persons deemed by the courts to owe money. Can be done though!

Cheers!

Artful

clutton_2

""If court awards these damages, is it then down to appointed bailiffs to recover the money if the LL isnt forthcoming with the money? ""

its never that simple Lynz - which is why i so frequently advise folks to move on

if the defendant is ordered to pay £x by a court, and does not do so, then the Claimant has to find ways of forcing him to pay - all of whihc cost more and more monies

If Bailiffs are appointed to "seize goods" - then those goods have to be in the name of the Defendant... if they belong to his wife or kids or cousins... they cannot be touched.

Even if goods are seized and auctioned - the bailiffs goods-recovery costs, and auctioneers costs are deducted from the auction sales price, leaving a lot less for the Claimant... secondhand goods attract stunningly low prices at household auctions....

If a charge is put onto the Defendants property.. the claimant can only wait till it is sold to get his money

If an attachment or earnings is gained via another court process - the defendant can change jobs or go self employed and probably then prove he can only afford £5 a month for life....

A clever defendant will m ake sure he has no "assets" in his name... his car will be in his wifes name, his computers in his company's name and so on.....

Its very difficult to get full settlment of an award if you are fighting someone who has done this before, they will know all the tricks to avoid coughing up......

So... a moral victory.... is it worth the effort...

Brb

lynzpower wrote: »

Did we highlight this case from esteemed freinds at nearly legal? This is regarding the role of the police in illegal eviction cases:

I went to a social function a few weeks back after the suzy butler thing kicked off and there was a police officer there. He did get quizzed to see if he knew his stuff.

Happy to report that he did so that's one lol

P.S. Don't think I impressed him much. I did rather get on my soap box.

theartfullodger

So... a moral victory.... is it worth the effort...

Who said 'Evil will prevail when good men do nothing'?


(Google the phrase...)

Surely morality is the basis of our civilisation..??

lynzpower

I agree, yes it might not be easy to get the money ( i did not suggest it would be) BUT i think that it should be collected, yes.

I dont think any of us want tenants who experience this sort of treatment should just roll over, do we?

clutton_2

""I dont think any of us want tenants who experience this sort of treatment should just roll over, do we? "

of course not... but i dont think filling such tenants' heads full of the prospect of coming away with a lot of compo is particularly helpful.....

we all know the difficulties Eagerlearner had to get less than £1k from her ex witch of a landlady... just imagine how much MORE difficult a defendant is going to make it if s/he is expected to cough up many thousands......

i think there is almost nothing further that can be done to help victims of smaller criminals to get financial recompense... the current system attempts to cover almost every option for debt recovery.


in high profile cases the CPS must be seen to be "providing justice" and assets can be seized for the state..

but the victims must go to Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (or whatever it is called now)

i dont know if claimants in Small Claims Court Cases are eligible to apply for CIC - as generally SCC are for non criminal affairs...

Yet again.. the small guy loses out....

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

...i think there is almost nothing further that can be done to help victims of smaller criminals to get financial recompense... the current system attempts to cover almost every option for debt recovery.


in high profile cases the CPS must be seen to be "providing justice" and assets can be seized for the state..

but the victims must go to Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (or whatever it is called now)

i dont know if claimants in Small Claims Court Cases are eligible to apply for CIC - as generally SCC are for non criminal affairs...

Yet again.. the small guy loses out....

Sorry Clutton - can you clarify the point you are making? What's the relevance of being a small claims court claimant in respect of eligibility for Criminal Injuries Compensation?

CI financial awards are made to those who have been *injured* as the "innocent victim of a violent crime " - violent crime is dealt with under the criminal courts, although there does not have to have been a conviction for an Award to be processed . The CICA makes a decision on the balance of probabilities & a crime number has to be supplied as part of the application