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Housing and accommodation
Harassment and illegal eviction
Harassment happens when the landlord or someone connected to the landlord does anything that can stop a tenant living quietly and safely in their home. Illegal eviction happens when a tenant is forced out of their home without the landlord following the correct procedures.
As a tenant you are legally entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' of your home. Harassment does not have to be extreme. It can include such actions as:
- being refused access to parts of your home
- entering your home when you are not there or without permission
- threatening violence
- stopping you having guests
- tampering with or interfering with your personal possessions
- changing locks while you are out
- allowing the property to fall into disrepair, forcing you out of the property
- cutting off utility supplies to the property (gas, electricity, water)
Actions such as these are likely to constitute criminal offences under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. If you are a licensee, and rent a room from a resident landlord, you are not protected under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
The local authority has powers to prosecute and intervene in such situations. If you are experiencing any form of harassment from your landlord, contact a Rights Officer at Portsmouth City Council on 023 9283 4899. If you are unsure if your landlords' behaviour constitutes harassment, contact Student Housing for further advice
Before taking any self-help action you must ask the landlord in writing to stop the offending behaviour. You must keep a copy of the letter, which should be dated. It is best to deliver the letter by hand, so, if challenged can prove it was served.
Unlawful Eviction
As a tenant you have a certain security of tenure and are protected under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, which states that a landlord can only legally regain possession of a property from tenants who do not leave voluntarily, via a court order. This means that your landlord cannot evict you or force you to leave your home without a court order. If they attempt to evict you without a court order they are committing a criminal offence. There are several ways that a landlord could attempt illegal eviction:
- changing the locks while you are out
- denying you access to part or all of your home
- physically throwing you out of your home
If you are being harassed by your landlord or are threatened with illegal eviction it is important that you keep a record of each incident taking care to include what was said, who was there, the date and the time.
If your landlord illegally evicts you from your home, contact the Private Sector Housing Rights Officers at Portsmouth City Council on 023 9283 4899 or contact the police.
Notices
Before any type of eviction proceedings can start, it is always necessary to serve a warning notice on the tenants. Even squatters should have a letter delivered to them asking them to leave, before proceedings are started. For most types of tenancy there is a special form of notice which must be used, and it is very important that the correct form is used for the type of tenancy concerned; otherwise any subsequent possession proceedings may fail. The main types of notice used are a Section 21 notice and a Section 8 notice.
Section 21 notice
For Assured Shorthold tenancies. This must give the tenant at least two month's notice to leave, must not end before the end of the fixed term or, if the fixed term has ended at the time the notice is served, end at the end of a 'period of the tenancy'. Provided the tenancy is an Assured Shorthold one and the notice is correctly drafted, you will have no defence to any subsequent possession proceedings.
Section 8 notice
This is used for Assured and Assured Shorthold tenancies when the landlord is seeking to evict tenants under one of the grounds for possession set out in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act. The most common ground is ground 8, i.e. that a tenant is in two or more months' arrears of rent. For this ground, and for other 'tenant default' grounds, the notice period must not be less than two weeks. However for other grounds, the notice period is two months. This notice must be in the prescribed form and contain all the prescribed information otherwise it will not be valid.
Further information
Advice Guide
Citizens Advice Bureau
Shelter
T: 0808 800 4444
W: www.shelter.org.uk
