Here is a rather unusual question to the blog clinic from Lisa who is a tenant
Hi, I am in a rolling periodic tenancy following an assured short hold tenancy ending,I was placed into this property under a sec188 as temporary housing by the council but with a private landlord and have been here three years.
The landlord has decided he wants the property back to live in and has issued us with a section 21.but the council has advised me that I will have to go through a court order following not being able to find anywhere to live just yet.
The landlord has advised me that if I am not out at the end of the sec 21 has ended that he will not take me to court but place a caravan on the front lawn and live there with his wife and place a caravan in the back garden for his elder daughter to live in then hook cables from the house for electric. Is this legal?
No Lisa, it certainly is not legal. It will most definitely be harassment!
If you rent a house, you rent all of it including the garden. So your landlord is not entitled to enter and live in the garden without your permission, any more than he is entitled to come and sleep in your sitting room.
The main different I suppose is that the damages for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment and breach of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 you will be able claim will be somewhat less than if he actually moved into the property.
You need to speak to the housing officer at your Local Authority and ask them to speak to the landlord and warn him of the consequences to him of doing this.
If he actually moves in then you should instruct a solicitor to bring a claim for damages for harassment. You should be able to find a solicitor who will do this under a no win no fee agreement.
Industry Observer says
Never hgeard such tripe in all my born toot (as my dear old Dad would say!!).
What complete nonsense. Tessa you may be right and damagesd lower if they only live outside and not inside but to be honest for the threat of two vans and hooking up to the electric – how do they propose to do that unless they enter the property?
I’d say the damages would be just as big as if they actually threw them out.
For a good no win no fee firm try David Smith’s company Anthony Gold
Caravan Marketplace says
I would try and resolve this amicabbly. The landlord sounds a few shillings short of a penny, and the amount of red tape if he did live in the garden in a Carvan would be a nightmare. Much like when “travellers” camp out on someone elses property and it takes years to shift them.
Sheila says
Sorry – but shouldn’t the Council take on Lisa’s case and find her somewhere else to live since they placed her in the first place. It seems to me that the landlord may have made his threat since he is desperate for housing himself and wants back into the property. What is the point of a section 21 notice – if a tenant can simply ignore it?
Tessa Shepperson says
Tenants are entitled to stay in the property until evicted.
The point of serving a s21 notice is that when the landlord takes them to court, the Judge is not allowed to refuse to make the order (assuming the notice is correctly drawn and all other procedural things have been done properly).
Bear in mind also that many landlords serve s21 notices as a precautionary measure and don’t actually want the tenants to go. So the trigger for the Councils to re-house is when the possession order is made.