Regular readers of the Daily mail will no doubt have a healthy disregard for “human rights” or “yuman rites” as dubbed by their esteemed columnist Richard Littlejohn.
As a regular reader of the Property 118 blogs, I notice that there have been two recent columns relating to the impact of “human rights” on evictions of tenants in the private rented sector. Continue reading Impact of Human Rights on Evictions
I recently had a long online discussion with Mary Latham, in which we both tried to get to the bottom of the legal stuff around whether or not a managing agent is allowed to sign a Section 21 notice.
We didn’t end up with a definitive conclusion. I will write a separate piece on my thoughts on the legal stuff in a while but I wanted to write about something that came up as an adjunct to what we were talking about. Whether people in my line of work, who defend possession actions brought by landlords, will always try to buy time for the tenant in the face of all reasonableness. Continue reading Don’t Shoot the Messenger #10
Tenants are trying to exploit human rights laws to stop paying rent and block evictions, warns the Residential Landlords Association.
The RLA is concerned that a case waiting to go before the Appeal Court will leave landlords unable to reclaim their buy to let properties if renters breach tenancy agreements. Continue reading Tenants try to block eviction under human rights laws
I have just read a thread on Property Tribes that says Hounslow Council have been prevented so far from evicting a tenant because she is claiming that they are contravening her human rights under Article 8 of Human Rights Act 1998. Continue reading Landlords face possibility that they may not be able to evict tenants under Human Rights Law!
The only way to bring a tenancy to an end is the voluntary surrender on the part of the tenant or for a landlord to obtain a court order for possession. Any other way is likely to be construed as unlawful eviction which is a criminal offence, using violence or changing the locks when the tenant is out for example. Recently a landlord from Oxford was given a three month jail sentence for unlawfully evicting a tenant, leaving the individual with no accommodation and forced to sleep in an abandoned car.
Harassment and illegal eviction is a serious criminal offence and a breach of civil law; the local council has powers to prosecute anyone who commits such an offence. The law says that if you want your tenant to leave then the correct legal procedures must be followed. These procedures include serving the tenant a written notice to quit or Section 21 notice, if required this must be followed by a Possession Order obtained in the county court and finally a consent order for a bailiff. Continue reading Repossession, Harassment and Illegal Eviction
As I sit here in a Civil Court’s waiting room waiting to be called (here pursuing a tenant on behalf of a landlord), it makes me think that all this is a bit laborious and pointless.
Why is the legal system being used for run-of-the-mill cases like these? Yes, I know that it’s hugely important to those involved, but to wider society? Continue reading Holding Court? Holding hands more like
I thought I’d share my recent experiences of a “Tenant From Hell”
We often take on properties from landlords who have problem tenants, usually leaving us the legacy of sorting them out. Because I practiced as a Landlord & Tenant Lawyer, I head up (and personally oversee) all evictions at NPG which means we don’t have to outsource the process and we can move very swiftly. Continue reading A Tenant from Hell – And a Landlord’s Revenge!
