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A Landlord has been ordered to pay over £5,000 in damages.

Writer's picture: Holly Holly

Learn what you can do to avoid these charges as a landlord.



Landlord
Landlord pays significant fine

The case:


A buy to let landlord in Walthamstow has been hit with a substantial fine after an ongoing dispute with their tenants.


To set the background, a mother and daughter were living in a property and have claimed that they were living in poor living conditions with no electricity and a mice infestation. They also claimed that they endured years of verbal abuse from the landlord and that the property did not have the required licence to make it a rental property.


After the mother was laid off from her job back in 2023, she stopped paying rent. This left her in rental arreas of £17,000. The mother told the court that because she was left with financial stress, she had to turn to her family and friends for financial support and did not want to apply for universial credit. The mother saved the money so that she could eventually purchase her own property one day.


The landlord was frustrated with continuous unpaid rent and decided that she would cut off their electricity supply and change the locks, this led to the landlord committing an unlawful eviction.


In court, the judge criticised the mother and daughter for withholding rent which led to the landlord feeling like they had no choice but to take action out of desperation.

That being said, due to the landlord illegally evicting the tenant, they were entitled to damages of over £5,000.


What can you learn as a landlord?


If you have a tenant who is not paying rent, you first need to establish what type of tenancy they are on.


You will have 2 weeks to give your tenants notice if either of the following apply::


  1. They are in rent arrears or are often in rent arrears

  2. They are on an assured shorthold tenancy or an assured tenancy


The tenant will need to leave the property by the end of their notice period.


If you do have a tenant on an assured tenancy you can evict them regardless of whether they are in rent arrears or not.


You would need to use a ‘section 21’ notice and you would have to give them at least 2 months to move out before you can apply to take them to court.


If you are a landlord evicting with a Section 8, you will need to prove to the court that the tenant is in rental arrears.


The court will generally approve the eviction if one of the following applies:

  1. The tenant is 2 months late, and pays monthly

  2. The tenant is 8 weeks late, and pays weekly

Make sure that if you are renting out your property that you have spoken to your local council and have applied for any necessary licences that may be required for your area.


Make sure that you join the PropBubble club so that you can network, share issues, find solutions and much more with other like-minded property people!



Please note: This is NOT Legal Advice. Please contact a legal professional for advice on what you should and should not do.

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