Landlord Harassment

Q: June 2002 - A friend splits up with her partner, moves into 2 bed flat, needs someone to share rent with. I move in. The tenancy was in her name, but she had consent from the owner to sub let to me. All my dealings with the property were with her, not the owner. November 2002 - Flatmate moves out, but honours arrangement to hols flat until original end date, 22nd December 2002. I finalise paperwork with local council for rehoming. December 2002 - Flatmate's partner seems to have delighted in making my life a living hell for the last few weeks, relaying messages that may or may not be entirely true, and I hear nothing at all from the person who took the flat on at all. Events such as being told someone was coming round to clean the property ready for the end of the tenancy are arranged, yet never happen, my move out date wanders all over the place although it was originally set, people coming to view the property with the tenant holder's (ie my "friend's"/ ex flatmate's) consent, but with no notice to me,the list goes on. I have now had a phonecall at 21.30 tonight from my ex flatmate's partner telling me I have to move out by Saturday, in order for the new tenants (!) to move in on the Sunday. All good for the ex flatmate, as she doesn't have any worries, and will be getting one week's rent returned to her, but what the hell am I supposed to do?

A: Unless your landlord is resident, they cannot lawfully force you out of the property without a warrant to execute an extant County Court Order that your surrender possession. Telephone calls are unhelpful, as proving the contents of the conversation is difficult (even with a recording). If resident, your landlord cannot evict you until your contract ends. The Police may help you, although this is not an aspect of the criminal law they are keen to uphold. The Police may assist the unlawful eviction, depending on how influential your landlord is The body required to protect you from unlawful eviction, and landlord harassment in general, is your district

Local Authority (the one that pays your HB, has a Housing Department etc.). You may get some joy by telephoning their emergency telephone, if they have one. If they have more than one, try them all, starting with the most relevant. Social Services may help you. They must have an emergency telephone contact, accessible via your local hospital's switchboard (the one with the A&E dept.). They usually say a Social Worker will call you. Outside urban areas, housing and social services are the responsibility of different authorities, but various laws require them to co-operate with each other. Unfortunately, Social Workers are often very nasty, and very dishonest, people.