Help to take landlord to court for illegal eviction

lincroft1710

LutonGuy said:

artyboy said:

GDB2222 said:

FreeBear said:

BarelySentientAI said:

LutonGuy said:

What are my next steps to take the landlord to court for criminal prosecution? 

How can I pursue on criminal line?

I will take further action once the criminal side is exhausted but I wanted to focus on the criminal side first. 

Good advice on this thread, covering everything (rightly) apart from this point.

To answer this one, you don't.  You are not the CPS.

In England & Wales (and probably Scotland), it is possible to bring a Private Prosecution. But it is not a cheap process, nor is it simple.

Fraught with difficulty, as the Post Office will confirm.

Actually the PO did it without problems and in large numbers... back in the day. The difficulties came much later...

The most depressing part of this whole sorry saga is that the people entrusted to uphold the law (police, but also council) are only too happy to plead willful ignorance and palm people off. This is a CRIMINAL act

I do hope that the OP doesn't let this go because they were badly failed when they should have been protected.

I am committed to taking this case to its logical conclusion as I don't want anybody else to go through what I have gone through, but I need help from the council and police which I don't think I am getting so far unfortunately. 

Taking one rogue LL to court will probably have no effect on the behaviour of other rogue or potential rogue LLs. Your experience with so called "authorities" doesn't inspire confidence in them doing the right thing. 

deannagone

It sounds like you spoke to the wrong person in Housing.  Their focus is on whether they have to help you find somewhere else to live.  As you are single and presumably don't have a disability, they don't.  You need to speak to the Private Tenants Officer.  Someone who deals with private tenancies and the tenant/landlords.  I'd advise trying again.  I hope you have a copy of your tenancy agreement. Tell them you need advice/help with an illegal eviction, that no S21 was issued, deposit wasn't protected.

GDB2222

Apart from anything else, the OP is not homeless, so he spoke to the wrong person at the council.  

_Penny_Dreadful

@LutonGuy you need to apply to court for a 'without notice' injunction asap since this has left you without a home using form N16A.  Do not delay!!!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n16a-application-for-injunction-general-form

Once you have submitted your application you can then raise a formal complaint with both the police and the council.  The landlord has committed a criminal offence, this is not a civil matter.  The police must act as must the council, it is not acceptable for either to fob you off.

LightFlare

LutonGuy said:

I am a tenant in England and Wales. My 12-month contract was signed on Oct 2022 & I am currently on rolling.

My Landlord has served my S21 notice on Form 6A and asked me to leave on 5th Feb 2023. I got a confirmation from CA that s21 is not valid. 

However, a few days back while I was not at home, my landlord threw all of my stuff in the garden and changed the locks. By doing so, he has damaged some of my stuff and other got damaged in open air. 

My questions is

- What are my next steps to take the landlord to court for criminal prosecution? Police think it is a civil matter which it is not.

How can I pursue on criminal line?

I will take further action once the criminal side is exhausted but I wanted to focus on the criminal side first. 

I would appreciate your help. This action by the landlord has traumatized my kids and I don't this to happen to anyone else.

Any help will be appreciated 

What did YOU do at this stage ?  Just ignore because it wasn't valid or start to look for alternative accommodation because at some stage the LL would have got it right and you would have been evicted.

**I am absolutely NOT condoning the LLs behavior here

_Penny_Dreadful

LightFlare said:

LutonGuy said:

I am a tenant in England and Wales. My 12-month contract was signed on Oct 2022 & I am currently on rolling.

My Landlord has served my S21 notice on Form 6A and asked me to leave on 5th Feb 2023. I got a confirmation from CA that s21 is not valid. 

However, a few days back while I was not at home, my landlord threw all of my stuff in the garden and changed the locks. By doing so, he has damaged some of my stuff and other got damaged in open air. 

My questions is

- What are my next steps to take the landlord to court for criminal prosecution? Police think it is a civil matter which it is not.

How can I pursue on criminal line?

I will take further action once the criminal side is exhausted but I wanted to focus on the criminal side first. 

I would appreciate your help. This action by the landlord has traumatized my kids and I don't this to happen to anyone else.

Any help will be appreciated 

What did YOU do at this stage ?  Just ignore because it wasn't valid or start to look for alternative accommodation because at some stage the LL would have got it right and you would have been evicted.

**I am absolutely NOT condoning the LLs behavior here

The OP already knew the Section 21 wasn't valid.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6491866/s21-and-possession-orders

LightFlare

_Penny_Dreadful said:

LightFlare said:

LutonGuy said:

I am a tenant in England and Wales. My 12-month contract was signed on Oct 2022 & I am currently on rolling.

My Landlord has served my S21 notice on Form 6A and asked me to leave on 5th Feb 2023. I got a confirmation from CA that s21 is not valid. 

However, a few days back while I was not at home, my landlord threw all of my stuff in the garden and changed the locks. By doing so, he has damaged some of my stuff and other got damaged in open air. 

My questions is

- What are my next steps to take the landlord to court for criminal prosecution? Police think it is a civil matter which it is not.

How can I pursue on criminal line?

I will take further action once the criminal side is exhausted but I wanted to focus on the criminal side first. 

I would appreciate your help. This action by the landlord has traumatized my kids and I don't this to happen to anyone else.

Any help will be appreciated 

What did YOU do at this stage ?  Just ignore because it wasn't valid or start to look for alternative accommodation because at some stage the LL would have got it right and you would have been evicted.

**I am absolutely NOT condoning the LLs behavior here

The OP already knew the Section 21 wasn't valid.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6491866/s21-and-possession-orders

Yes - but it was apparent back in Dec that the LL wanted the OP to vacate.

I am wondering what the OP has done in the meantime to locate new accommodation or have they just ignored/stuck 2 fingers up at the LL.

Something has happened in the last 5 months to cause the LL to react in the way they now have

Did they actually let the LL know it was invalid or just ignore knowing that legally they were correct/safe ? (for now)

Yes the S21 was invalid, but the intent was clear and eventually the LL would get it right 

We are only getting one side of any interactions here

Again, I am 100% NOT condoning the LLs behaviour but there always 2 sides to disagreements

_Penny_Dreadful

LightFlare said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

LightFlare said:

LutonGuy said:

I am a tenant in England and Wales. My 12-month contract was signed on Oct 2022 & I am currently on rolling.

My Landlord has served my S21 notice on Form 6A and asked me to leave on 5th Feb 2023. I got a confirmation from CA that s21 is not valid. 

However, a few days back while I was not at home, my landlord threw all of my stuff in the garden and changed the locks. By doing so, he has damaged some of my stuff and other got damaged in open air. 

My questions is

- What are my next steps to take the landlord to court for criminal prosecution? Police think it is a civil matter which it is not.

How can I pursue on criminal line?

I will take further action once the criminal side is exhausted but I wanted to focus on the criminal side first. 

I would appreciate your help. This action by the landlord has traumatized my kids and I don't this to happen to anyone else.

Any help will be appreciated 

What did YOU do at this stage ?  Just ignore because it wasn't valid or start to look for alternative accommodation because at some stage the LL would have got it right and you would have been evicted.

**I am absolutely NOT condoning the LLs behavior here

The OP already knew the Section 21 wasn't valid.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6491866/s21-and-possession-orders

Yes - but it was apparent back in Dec that the LL wanted the OP to vacate.

I am wondering what the OP has done in the meantime to locate new accommodation or have they just ignored/stuck 2 fingers up at the LL.

Something has happened in the last 5 months to cause the LL to react in the way they now have

Did they actually let the LL know it was invalid or just ignore knowing that legally they were correct/safe ? (for now)

Yes the S21 was invalid, but the intent was clear and eventually the LL would get it right 

We are only getting one side of any interactions here

Again, I am 100% NOT condoning the LLs behaviour but there always 2 sides to disagreements

I don’t really understand what you are trying to achieve by posting on this thread. The section 21 was not valid. Even if it were valid the section 21 would not end the tenancy as that can only be done by the tenant or a court. What the landlord has done is a criminal offence and remember that this is a landlord who took and deposit and didn’t bother to protect. One wonders what other legal obligations as a landlord he failed to do.

What the OP needs is help but for some reason you are trying to blame the OP for the landlord’s criminal behaviour. 

GDB2222

_Penny_Dreadful said:

@LutonGuy you need to apply to court for a 'without notice' injunction asap since this has left you without a home using form N16A.  Do not delay!!!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n16a-application-for-injunction-general-form

Once you have submitted your application you can then raise a formal complaint with both the police and the council.  The landlord has committed a criminal offence, this is not a civil matter.  The police must act as must the council, it is not acceptable for either to fob you off.

I am surprised that the police are choosing not to act, and they may change their minds if the op complains. However, I don’t think the police must act, as you put it. That’s an operational decision, and they may have reasons for not acting. 

_Penny_Dreadful

GDB2222 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

@LutonGuy you need to apply to court for a 'without notice' injunction asap since this has left you without a home using form N16A.  Do not delay!!!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n16a-application-for-injunction-general-form

Once you have submitted your application you can then raise a formal complaint with both the police and the council.  The landlord has committed a criminal offence, this is not a civil matter.  The police must act as must the council, it is not acceptable for either to fob you off.

I am surprised that the police are choosing not to act, and they may change their minds if the op complains. However, I don’t think the police must act, as you put it. That’s an operational decision, and they may have reasons for not acting. 

Given a lot of cases I've read online I'm not surprised the police are trying to fob the OP off.  Some police officers actively help landlords illegally evict tenants.  The Police UK's (even though they only cover England and Wales) own guidelines tell them that if an incident is reported to the police and requires the police to attend or if there are viable lines of enquiry, an officer will be assigned to the case and you will be given a reference number.  Illegal eviction is an indictable criminal offence in England and Wales so even if the police decided not to attend for whatever reason the OP should have received a crime reference number and the case been logged somewhere.

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-after-crime