Unwanted guest.

[melissa2929291936]

My work sent me abroad for six months.I arranged to rent our home out to a "friend".She only paid two months rent but I let it slide until we returned.When we did come home,she refused to leave the house.The police said there was nothing they could do so myself,husband and two small children had to camp out at my mothers thirty miles away.After six weeks of this,and having tried every legal avenue,I went to our home after "friend"had left for work.I still had my keys so I entered and turned the water off at the stopcock.The stopcock is in a weird place,not where you'd expect,so I was pretty sure she didn't know its location.I then cancelled the broadband for the address.That night she had the nerve to phone me complaining.She said she had an infant,a toddler and no water.I informed her she could go to her own mother (who lived in the same street.)but the rental time in our written contract had passed and she hadn't even paid me for most of it.Cue tears,threats etc but,because I knew she had somewhere to go,I held my ground.Went round next day and she'd gone,although the place was trashed.I had the locks changed,cleared up and moved back in.Now she's bad mouthing me all over,saying I threw out a mother with young children.Her main gripe though seems to be the lack of broadband rather than water! I genuinely don't think i was in the wrong "throwing her out"_I knew she wouldn't be on the street.

Because landlords are terrible people who must be taught a lesson.

/rolls eyes

The tenant can receive compensation for expenses and distress caused by the eviction. In the case mentioned by a poster above where Peterborough City Council prosecuted the landlord he paid £8000 in damages and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. As I keep saying, courts take a very dim view of illegal evictions.

But not paying rent is ok.

Right for the last time. Use legal remedies for non payment of rent.

When they illegally evict people, yes, very much so.

This is one of the worst illegal evictions I have heard of in a long time,

As a landlord, you can evict tenants by following the correct procedure

OP could have done that two months in when the tenant stopped paying rent, but she couldn't be arsed

Pay rent.

A society where people don't steal and squat others' houses. A society where morals and ethics carry weight. A society where we treat the 'eat the rich' mindset with the disgust it deserves. A society where we're happy for the successes of others, rather than the small minded jealousy.

Or don't, but don't get caught. This is a case where the law is evil and unethical. If someone doesn't pay rent they have no right to occupy the other person's home.

I'll grant you some kind of grace period for real hardship, when someone stops paying rent due to no fault of their own, to give the state time to take over the buck and house the person. But beyond that, if it's not your house and you're not paying rent, you have no right to be there.

It's mind boggling how the same people who are so big on consent when it comes to their person, have zero problem with violating other people's property. Just so long as those are perceived to be the rich.

Sorry but do you have a shred of integrity and morals? Someone is occupying another person's home for months on end, against the owner's will and without even the pretence of renting as they aren't paying rent. Yet the bad guy is the owner who forces them out? The owner is locked out of their own home due to this absolute twunt's entitlement, yet the twunt is the victim?

And fuck the law if this is what it does. Imagine you chance upon a society without any existing tenancy laws. Now try explaining to the people there why the owner shouldn't be allowed to immediately kick out the cf 'tenant'.

and where landlords can enter peoples homes, and bully them out by turning off essential services and changing the locks?
No thank you.

A shred? No, far more than that. More than you, obviously, who wants to remove the few protections of tenants so that landlords can do whatever they want whenever they want.

Imagine a society wihtout any tenancy laws? That's the society you'd like. OP fucked up from the start, she broke the law, she acted immorally and stupidly.

Sorry but do you have a shred of integrity and morals? Someone is occupying another person's home for months on end, against the owner's will and without even the pretence of renting as they aren't paying rent. Yet the bad guy is the owner who forces them out? The owner is locked out of their own home due to this absolute twunt's entitlement, yet the twunt is the victim?

Apparently, it's a terrible thing to make somebody homeless, even when they have broken their side of the homing agreement in two key ways - by not paying rent and by exceeding the agreed tenancy period; but also, if somebody (that tenant) makes YOU and your family homeless, it's because YOU are a terrible person. Go figure.

Someone 'is not occupying someone else's home'.

When you let a property you are granting the tenant a legal interest in that property either until the tenancy is surrendered by the tenant or terminated by a warrant of possession and executed by a court bailiff.

It isn't difficult to understand the law but sad that so many people think its OK.

I'm looking forward to being quoted in the media because I suspect this is a wind up. I struggle to believe anyone could be as stupid as Op (and some of the people who have responded to this scenario).

People's homes? It's the landlord's home. And when the tenant doesn't pay rent, they have zero claim to the home.

It isn't difficult to understand the law but sad that so many people think its OK.

I understand that it's the law. But in this case the law is corrupt ond immoral.

Legally they do though. Even when rent isn’t pad they have legal rights
It’s the LLs property but the Tenants home .

It’s the LLs property but the Tenants home .

So if the LL has another temporary home for an agreed period only - and actually keeps to that contract/agreement and doesn't seek to stay on afterwards (possibly in another country, where they legally couldn't, even if they wanted to) - does UK law not then consider the LL to be homeless as well?

And if they do, why does one homeless person get legal protection from the other person whom they have deliberately made homeless?

This seems to be yet another case of the law being made with big business in mind and they couldn't care less about small, ordinary people who end up suffering or as collateral.

I got that. I'm not stupid. But even though it's legal it's also morally bankrupt. So this is a law that should be broken as much as one can get away with.

Tenant wasn't thrown out, she chose to leave because she couldn't get WiFi/broadband, and immediately moved in with family.

You don't make bad things better by doing more bad things. And if the law allows landlords to do such terrible things, they will be able to do it to the ones that DO pay rent. That's the bit you aren't getting.

No, it's the OP's HOUSE. When she handed over the keys and took money, it became the tenants HOME. OP moved elsewhere.

They DO have a claim to the home whether you like it or not. This law protects all tenants.

Yes the landlord may well meet the criteria for being homeless, but that doesn't mean a homelessness duty is owed them by the local authority. It depends upon whether they are a priority need, which in itself will depend upon whether there are dependents and/or a medical need such as depression or physical vulnerability.

It's not 'more bad things' but a moral and right thing. What I like to do is imagine the law doesn't exist and I'm trying to persuade the govt to pass this law. If you can't do that, that might be a sign that the law is corrupt and driven by jealousy and wickedness.

Sorry I must respond, the water was turned off. Turning off essential utilities is considered as harassment. Please read the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 before you comment. Turning off services is considered to be a very bad act by the courts as people can't live without essential services. And could result in compensation if the landlord is prosecuted.