Archive for the 'Unlawful eviction and harassment' Category

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On crowbars and considered conduct

By NL on 09/02/2011. 2 Comments

Strydom v Fowler. Brentford County Court 24 November 2010

A County Court case involving possession, unlawful eviction, trespass and Housing Act 1988 s27 and s28. Our thanks (as ever) to the Legal Action ‘Recent Developments in Housing Law’ for this one.

Mr F was the assured shorthold tenant, on  what had become a statutory periodic tenancy. The landlord was Mr S. Mr F built up rent arrears, eventually agreed at £2189, after the deduction of the deposit. On 16 May 2008, Mr S began possession proceedings, alleging rent arrears and damage to the property. At about this time, Mr F texted Mr S saying  that he would be ‘out in two … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , .

Jail for Unlawful Eviction

By David Smith on 07/11/2010. 1 Comment

According to the website of Oxford City Council a landlord has been jailed for three months for unlawful eviction.

Mr Kenston McIntosh received three months after pleading guilty at Oxford Crown Court on 29 October 2010. Undoubtedly the sentence was aggravated by Mr McIntosh failing to attend a previous hearing and then being arrested at Gatwick airport while on unconditional bail.

Mr McIntosh refused to cooperate with Housing Benefit enquiries to prove that his tenant was residing at the property and then forced him to leave the property. The tenant was forced to sleep in an abandoned car for several nights.

We have also heard of another case in West … Read the full post

Posted in FLW article and Unlawful eviction and harassment.

Just another brick in the (Sheffield CC v) Wall

By J on 03/08/2010. 0 Comments

Sheffield CC v Wall (by her personal representatives), Wall, Ingham, Butler [2010] EWCA Civ 922, is, on any view, an unusual case. The Court of Appeal didn’t, however, help matters.

Imagine, if you will, that, in 1967, Mr Steven Wall was placed with Mrs June Wall, who acted as his foster parent, by Sheffield CC. Whilst Steven was never adopted, he was clearly treated as the son of Mrs Wall and there was no-one else that could be said to have fulfilled that role.

In October 1986, Sheffield CC granted Mrs Wall a secure tenancy of a two-bed house, to be occupied by her and her “son”, Steven. He duly … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Possession, secure-tenancy, Succession, Uncategorized and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , .

Illegal eviction and the police

By NL on 11/07/2010. 4 Comments

Naughton v Whittle and Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. Manchester County Court 30/11/2009 (Legal Action July 2010)

The tendency of the police to be utterly useless in cases of unlawful eviction has been a recurrent motif on Nearly Legal. They either do nothing, saying that it is a civil matter, or on occasion remove keys from the tenant. In this case, reported in July’s Legal Action Housing Updates, for which many thanks, the police did take further steps. Unfortunately, they took steps in entirely the wrong direction and ended up paying for it.

Mr Naughton had been occupying a property for some 15 months. In March 2006, Ms … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , , .

A bumper pack of unlawful eviction – updates from Legal Action

By NL on 15/06/2010. 3 Comments

In the second post of County Court cases you will already have read in June’s Legal Action Housing updates, we turn to unlawful eviction and harassment. And it appears to have been a rich few months in this regard, with no fewer than five cases to note.

Fakhari v Newman, Woolwich County Court 07/01/2010
Mr F granted Mr N a one year AST in May 2008. Monthly rent of £985 and one months rent taken as deposit. The deposit was not protected. The boiler in the property had problems from the start and broke down completely in December 2008. Mr N was without heating and hot water until … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , , .

Re-entry and re-opening: updates from Legal Action

By NL on 14/06/2010. 0 Comments

June’s Legal Action housing updates have a bumper collection of interesting county court cases, as you’ll already know. For our archives, this is the first of a couple of posts. This one deals with cases on post-eviction re-entry and on re-opening possession proceedings, including an LB Croydon case that very nearly merited a naughty step post of its own.

Croydon LBC v Mensah-Bonsu, Croydon County Court 15/03/2010
Ms Mensah-Bonsu was Croydon’s secure tenant. In August 2009 a suspended possession order was made on terms of rent plaus £21.60 per month. Ms M-B complied until December 2009, when she missed a payment due to ill health. She contacted Croydon offering … Read the full post

Posted in ASB, FLW case note, Housing law - All, Possession, secure-tenancy and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , .

Unlawful Eviction, exemplary damages and why people don’t like estate agents

By NL on 28/02/2010. 0 Comments

Islam v Yap and Others. Claim No: TLQ/09/1130. High Court, 20 November 2009.

This was a claim for unlawful eviction and a tale worthy of a play by Ben Jonson. There were no less than 5 defendants, and such superfluity necessitates an opening description of the nature and the character of the dramatis personae:

Mrs Islam – a homeless applicant housed by LB Redbridge on a non-secure tenancy and being the Claimant.
Mr Yap – a freeholder of the property, who granted a lease to Finebridge Lettings but appeared somewhat confused about the extent of his title and wished most ardently to sell the property to realise his … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Possession and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , , .
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