Private tenants support
Private tenants support
Our Private tenants’ investigations service is available to help victims of:
- harassment
- threats
- abuse
- intimidation or
- unlawful eviction
where you feel you may have to leave your home. Through mediation between landlord and tenant, or if necessary, through taking action or legal proceedings against the person or persons causing tenancy difficulties, our work centres around enabling private tenants to stay in their home.
We aim to:
- Prevent homelessness and ensure that tenancies are maintained for as long as legally possible
- Investigate all allegations thoroughly and in a professional manner
- Maintain contact with the client throughout the court case
- That at the end of our intervention, conflicts are resolved and landlords are better informed of the laws, which govern private rented sector
What the law says
The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 gives private tenants the rights against harassment and illegal eviction. Under this law it is a criminal offence for your landlord to harass you or evict you illegally.
The law gives you the right to take out a civil action against your landlord and to claim financial compensation if they evict you illegally.
It also gives the council and the police the right to take criminal action against your landlord. If your landlord is found guilty of illegal eviction they can be fined or sent to prison.
Who can we help?
Are you a leaseholder or a private tenant?
Are you having problems with your landlord?
We have specialist officers who can help you if:
- your landlord wants to end your tenancy or lease
- your landlord claims you owe rent or wants to put your rent up
- your landlord will not do repairs
- your landlord or ex-landlord refuses to give you your deposit back
- your landlord wants you to move out of your home for a while so that it can be repaired or refurbished
What assistance may be provided?
We investigate
- allegations of illegal eviction and harassment in the private rental sector under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
- leaseholder offences and prosecute where necessary under Sections 21 and 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
- rent book offences under section 5 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and section 54 sub-section 4 of the Rent Act 1977 will be investigated
- landlords’ failure to supply their name and address contrary to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sections 1 and 3, and the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
We also
- mediate and offer advice in disputes about deposits
- can refer cases to the legal department for prosecution under the act provided there is sufficient evidence
What costs are involved and who pays for these?
This service is free at the point of delivery to its users. If cases go to court, costs are borne by Hammersmith and Fulham council.
How do I contact the service?
Email: housing.options@lbhf.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8753 1441
145 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9XY
Visit: 77 Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, London W6 0LJ
Visit: www.lbhf.gov.uk
Contact the Private tenants’ investigations service by approaching and provide them with the details of your situation and why you believe you need assistance.
Other agencies such as Citizens Advice Bureaux and solicitors also have our details and can refer you to our service if they believe we can assist you.
What happens next?
When you contact us we will take statements from you and (where necessary) from the alleged perpetrators regarding your allegations. In cases of harassment our Private tenants investigations officers will warn landlords, try to resolve the conflict and monitor the situation. In cases of illegal eviction, provided that the tenancy falls within the scope of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, our Private Tenants Investigations service will seek to re-instate the tenant who has been evicted. If we cannot achieve this and if appropriate , the tenant is referred to a solicitor to seek an injunction.
Problems with your private landlord
We work around enabling private tenants to stay in their home, through mediation between landlord and tenant, or through taking action or legal proceedings against the person or persons causing tenancy difficulties, our work centres around enabling private tenants to stay in their home
What is harassment?
The types of harassment a landlord can resort to include:
- Cutting off or interfering with your water, gas or electricity supply
- Threatening you to make you leave the property
- Refusing to let you into parts of your accommodation (such as a shared bathroom) or moving into part of the accommodation which you rent
- Stopping you from having guests
- Interfering with or confiscating your possessions or mail
- Entering your home without your permission or prior notice (unless it is an emergency)
- Allowing your home to fall into a poor state of repair, so that it is dangerous or uncomfortable to live in
- Sending in builders at unsociable hours
- Trying to force you to sign a new agreement which reduces your right as a tenant
- Insisting you hand over keys to your home
- Persistently calling and/or visiting without good reason
Illegal eviction/Unlawful eviction
What is illegal or unlawful eviction?
Before you can be made to leave your home your landlord has to serve you with a valid "Notice to Quit". After this, if you are still in the property they have to take you to court and obtain a court order for possession. If they evict you without following this procedure it would be illegal eviction.
Notice to Quit
The type of tenancy you have determines the sort of notice you receive.
If your landlord needs to go to court to get back possession of the property, he or she will need to serve notice before applying to court for possession. The law states the notice should be in prescribed form and must be for a two month period. There are various types of notices set out in law. The most commonly used are Section 21 notices. This type of notice is served after the fixed term period. Sections 8 notices are served when a tenant owes 8 or more weeks rent.
There are rules governing notices. Seek legal advice if your landlord issues you notice.
If your landlord does not need to go to court to get back possession, he or she still needs to give you reasonable notice.
Reasonable Notice
What is considered reasonable notice depends on your tenancy. If you pay your rent weekly, it will be considered reasonable to give a week’s notice. You should seek legal advice to establish if notice given is reasonable.
Illegal eviction includes:
- Changing the locks while you are out so that you cannot get back in
- Physically throwing you and your belongings out onto the street
- Letting the property to someone else while you are away
Your landlord does not have to go to court if:
- You share part of the living accommodation with them or a member of their family, such as the bathroom
- You occupy your accommodation as a holiday home
- You are in a hostel provided by the council or another public body
- Your landlord provides services such a cleaning your room. A typical example is Bed & Breakfast accommodation
We enforce certain laws protecting Hammersmith and Fulham residents and can take action if:
- you are unlawfully harassed or evicted from your home
- your landlord or the agent refuses to give you your landlord’s name and address
- you pay a variable service charge and your landlord fails, when asked, to supply you with a summary of costs in relation to service charges or a details of the insurance cover for the building, or fails to let you inspect any documents used to produce the summary of costs
- your rent is payable weekly and your landlord refuses to give you a rent book
- an accommodation agency asks you for money before finding you a home
- If your landlord fails to carry out repairs which are statutorily the landlord’s responsibility.
For more information
About tenants and landlords rights, responsibilities and the law view the links in:
