Here is a question to the blog clinic from Sata (not her real name) who is a tenant.
I am a previous tenant who was evicted. I was given a 24 hour notice to vacate the premises.
I have a moving truck and storage unit to put my possessions in but now my property manager and landlord are refusing to let me retrieve my belongings since I wasn’t able to procure both before the 24 hours limit was up.
I notified the property manager that I had procured the truck and would be willing and able to remove my possessions to save them any costs of doing it themselves since I still have the keys to the property and they have not changed the locks that I know of. What should I do?
Answer
Go round, use your keys and retrieve your possessions. Take someone tough with you.
It sounds to me like an illegal eviction anyway. Tenants can only be legally evicted through the courts and you get considerably more than 24 hours notice. It generally takes between three to six months.
You may, therefore, have a claim for compensation from your landlord. Including (if you are unable to recover them) your possessions as your landlord is supposed to look after them and is not entitled to dispose of them without your consent.
I would suggest that you get some legal advice urgently.
Your Local Authority should have some sort of tenancy relations officer who can advise and help you. However, they are often very short-staffed and unable to give the help that they should – so see if you can also get advice from somewhere like Shelter, a Law Centre or your local CAB office.
You may also find a firm of solicitors who would be prepared to act on a no win no fee basis to claim compensation.
You will find a list of organisations that may be able to help you (including links to those mentioned above) here.
As a working tenancy relations officer I agree with Tessa, Sata. If you have access just go the most direct route.
If the landlord or agent refuse to release they are in breach of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, which abolished the right of a landlord to seize goods and refuse to release them. Something they were in fact allowed to do up until that point. It was called “Detinue”.
And contact your council. Ask who deals with harassment and illegal eviction and have a chat with them to see if anything else has been breached. Illegal evictions and harassment entitle a displaced tenant to apply for a Rent Repayment Order, claiming back 12 months worth of rent from the landlrod and it isnt necessary for the council to prosecute the landlord first, as was the case until April 2017.
I think Ben is confusing detinue with distress. Detinue was the unlawful retention of goods and was indeed abolished as such by the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 and effectively included in the tort of conversion. Distress, the common law right to seize a tenant’s goods to pay rent, was definitively abolished by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, but before that could only be exercised in respect of an assured tenancy with the leave of the court.