Harassment And Illegal Eviction

Harassment

While it seems extraordinary to most of us (even those who don’t exactly like our landlords and agents much), there is still a considerable distinction between practitioners who aren’t very reasonable and the landlords whose conduct will be considered here.

For some tenants it can be such a huge problem that the guide would not be complete without its inclusion. While it may not affect a very high proportion of tenants, its effects can be utterly devastating, and some of the tenants affected have the types of tenancies which this guide has been designed to examine. As I mentioned elsewhere, there still exist a minority of landlords who feel above the law and who are often, so sadly, proved right by what happens as opposed to what ought to happen.

There is legislation in place: the Protection from Eviction Act, 1977. Further protection also exists for tenants under the 1988 Housing Acts. Although the offences are criminal, it isn’t the police usually, but the local authority who will prosecute these crimes. If a landlord is found guilty they can receive a heavy fine and/or a prison sentence.

Harassment can take many forms. Although it can be because your landlord has a dispute with you, or is racist, or doesn’t like your private life, the main cause of harassment is of course money. It most often seems to happen to people who get behind with their rent, or if the landlord could make more money from the building if the current tenant left.

Illegal Eviction

This is usually easier for a tenant to substantiate than harassment because it is clearer. It is an eviction, which is simply not lawful, and for most tenants that means eviction by the landlord or their employees. No landlord or their agents can legally carry out evictions, this is always the preserve of the courts and their servants (bailiffs).

This is the ‘suitcases in the garden’ syndrome I mentioned in the Introduction. You can actually be evicted illegally from just a part of your accommodation. For example if the landlord locks off rooms in a house you are renting to deprive you of their use, a not-uncommon trick I’m afraid: ‘you owe me some rent, I’m taking some space back till you’ve paid up.’

Even if the landlord has an absolute possession order (see Grounds for Possession) they cannot simply walk in and turf you out. If they have an order, and you haven’t moved out by the date on the order, the landlord cannot personally evict tenants. S/he must use court procedures every single time – no matter how frustrated s/he’s become.

In this depressing section there is one more thing I need to mention, although I hope it affects none of my readers. Although the action for both the above is taken by the local authority, if your landlord, or anyone working for them ever threatens violence, or is violent, you must contact the police, not the local authority. Sometimes they can be a little reluctant to get involved, but if you do feel under any sort of physical threat, only the police may act.

These instances may be rare – but they’re not rare enough to not bother us all. As I’ve mentioned before, there is a rump of landlords who act in all ways as if the law of the land didn’t apply to them. Heavy fines and even imprisonment await landlords who harass or illegally evict any tenant. Did any of these complex laws bother the ‘landlords’ who purchased the block with my former tenant in place?

No. The law of the land didn’t bother to even get involved and the tenant was left high and dry.