Suing for illegal eviction

Hump

Zorz wrote: »

According to the Council's "corporate complaints policy", I'm supposed to first exhaust the internal complaints procedure of the council itself before I can turn to the LGO. So far I've been very patient, I've written very detailed and thorough letters and keep copies of all correspondence and proof of postage of what I've sent them.

At this stage, I'm expecting an answer from the Executive Director of Housing, no later than the end of this month. Then there is one more internal stage, and then the Ombudsman.

I've also identified the names and contact details of the councillors of the ward I was living when this happened and of the local MP. I don't know though, at which stage should I involve them.


Well, of course prevention is always better than cure. However in my case, that was unfeasible because the LL made the place completely uninhabitable!

BTW: apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread. I'm interested in the outcome of your case as well!

I reckon you're onto a loser here with the council. Ask the council's legal services department for a copy of their 'prosecutions policy'. If the Protection from Eviction Act 1977/ prosecuting for unlawful/ illegal evictions isn't mentioned then your complaint is going nowhere.

Council's can only prosecute if they have a policy that says they will.

As regards the PfEA77 the council can prosecute - but so can the Police (via the CPS) and so can you - though in reality only councils actually do it - and then rarely.

Cost of bringing a prosecution = £3000 - £5000 per case and 3-5 months duration- expect 3-4 visits to the magistrates court and if you're unlucky the landlord might insist on a trip to the Crown Court. If the landlord represents themselves then the costs spiral due to the extra time this approach takes with the legal profession being on an hourly rate. And if - and it's a big if, they are found guilty expect a conditional discharge, small fine or a community service order - very few face jail or suspended jail.

Compare that with a civil case at the county court with the associated compo - under s27 Housing Act 1988 - it's relatively quick, you can ask for an injunction requiring the landlord to re-admit you - and did I mention the compo? Cost to the council - nil as it will be the tenant taking the action (and reaping the compo).

Little wonder few council's prosecute!

Good luck with your complaint!

FF1X

No criminal prosecution has been mentioned by the Solicitor. Its a civil case for unlawful eviction and late protection of our deposit

marathonic

I have a feeling that this thread contains about 5% of the background information.

Why would a landlord take such action unless there was "another side to the story".

Did the landlord give a reason for doing this?

FF1X

The landlord took this kind of action because he believed he was above the law. 'Untouchable' was his words.

I had rent arrears. He new I was away and he made his move.

tim123456789

FF1X wrote: »

We were also told that if we tried to gain entry, it is a criminal offence and the police would be called

then you were told wrong.

But I guess that it's too late to take advantage of that.

tim

FF1X

The solicitor told me that the first move should be an injunction to gain access to the house. I declined as new tenants have moved in and I really don't want to see these people put out on the streets. Even though the landlord was quite happy to do it to me.

marathonic

IMHO, and I say this as a homeowner as opposed to a landlord, landlords don't have enough rights when it comes to rental arrears.

Whilst I do have sympathy for people who, through genuine hardship and no fault of their own, fall into arrears (in particular when there are children involved), I feel that the burden of housing people in these circumstances should fall solely on the government - as opposed to placing some of the burden on the landlord because the landlord happened to be the person housing them when they fell into difficulty.

A landlord has enough to worry about without the expectation to house people who fall into arrears. To top it all off, people in general see rent as 'dead money' and view landlords as the scum of the earth - without taking into consideration that they are in a business that faces as many, if not more, difficulties as any other business.

Op, this isn't aimed directly at you as, as I have said before, we obviously have very little details of the circumstances behind your own situation. It's just some general observations I'm making as a someone who would consider BTL in the future.

RANT OVER!!!

neverdespairgirl

Hump wrote: »

I reckon you're onto a loser here with the council. Ask the council's legal services department for a copy of their 'prosecutions policy'. If the Protection from Eviction Act 1977/ prosecuting for unlawful/ illegal evictions isn't mentioned then your complaint is going nowhere.

Council's can only prosecute if they have a policy that says they will.

If a council had a policy that it would not prosecute, it would appear to be an unlawful fettering of its discretion, to me.

marathonic

By the way, and you're not going to like this comment, in your own case, I feel that, if I had the full facts, I'd probably side with the landlord.

My reasoning is that, if the reason for arrears was that you were in genuine hardship and in danger of becoming homeless, your posts upon return from your 'week away' would have been more geared towards "how can I find a place to stay" as opposed to "who can I sue".

Of course, I may be wrong - I'm just guessing based on the information available.

FF1X

marathonic wrote: »

By the way, and you're not going to like this comment, in your own case, I feel that, if I had the full facts, I'd probably side with the landlord.

My reasoning is that, if the reason for arrears was that you were in genuine hardship and in danger of becoming homeless, your posts upon return from your 'week away' would have been more geared towards "how can I find a place to stay" as opposed to "who can I sue".

Of course, I may be wrong - I'm just guessing based on the information available.

You are wrong, but thank you anyway