Evictions
Illegal evictions
An illegal eviction takes place if your landlord, or a person acting on their behalf, makes you leave your home without following the correct legal process. The procedure that a landlord needs to follow depends on the type of tenancy agreement you have.
If a landlord illegally evicts a tenant, it is a serious criminal offence.
Some examples of illegal eviction are -
- changing the locks while you are out
- stopping you from using parts of your home
- removing you from your home by force
- moving into part of your home
Retaliatory evictions
A retaliatory eviction is where a tenant makes a legitimate complaint to their landlord about the condition of their property. Then, in response, instead of making the repair, the landlord serves them with a Section 21 asking them to leave.
If a tenant has an assured shorthold tenancy or a renewal agreement which started on or after 1 October 2015 and is given a section 21 notice, it will be invalid where all these apply -
- before the section 21 notice was issued, the tenant made a complaint in writing by email or letter to the landlord about the condition of the property. A tenant will be considered to have made a complaint if they did not know the landlord's postal or email address. Or if they had made reasonable efforts to contact the landlord to complain but could not
- the landlord -
- failed to provide a response within 14 days of the complaint
- did not describe the action they would take to fix the problem. Or they did not give a reasonable timescale within which action would be taken
- served a section 21 notice following the complaint being made by the tenant
- the tenant then complained to the council about the same or a very similar issue
- the council sent the landlord a housing improvement notice or emergency remedial action notice because the property was found, following a visit in response to the complaint, to have a serious health or safety hazard
- if the section 21 notice was not given before the tenants' complaint to the council, it was given before the service of the relevant notice
If the council serve a landlord with a relevant housing notice, a valid section 21 cannot be issued within 6 months of the councils notice. A section 21 will be valid if it is served after 6 months have passed.
The situation does not apply where a landlord uses a section 8 court procedure for evicting a tenant. For a landlord to rely on the section 8 procedure, there are certain grounds that have to be met. For example, where a tenant fails to pay the rent or has been involved in antisocial behaviour.
You can use the following example letter to report any repair problems to your landlord.
You should always keep a copy of the letter you send. For urgent issues you may wish to telephone your landlord.