What is illegal eviction, and what do I do if it happens to me?
Changing the locks, removing your belongings, cutting off services or making your life unbearable to force you out are crimes, not landlord remedies. Who enforces it in each nation and what you can recover.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 12 min
- Read
- 5 min
- Safety
- warning
Short answer
Except for lodgers and other excluded occupiers, a landlord cannot lawfully remove you without a court or tribunal order and formal enforcement. Doing so, or harassing you into leaving, is a criminal offence — up to two years' imprisonment on indictment. Report it to your council's tenancy relations or environmental health team, get emergency advice, and gather evidence immediately. In England a civil financial penalty can also be imposed without a conviction.
The reason this is criminal rather than merely wrongful is that the alternative is self-help evictions in the middle of the night, and the law removed that option from landlords deliberately. What surprises people is how wide harassment is: it is not only threats. Cutting off the electricity, removing a door, letting yourself in repeatedly, or a campaign of abusive messages intended to make you go can all qualify.
Safety
Step by step
- Recognise what counts.Changing the locks, physically removing you, taking your possessions, refusing to let you back in, cutting off gas, electricity or water, removing doors or windows, and any conduct likely to make you give up the property. Threatening to do these things can also be harassment.
- Check whether you are an excluded occupier.Lodgers who share accommodation with a resident landlord, and some other categories, do not have the protection requiring a court order and can be asked to leave on reasonable notice. The harassment offences still apply to them. If you are unsure, ask an adviser before assuming either way.
- Ring the council's tenancy relations team.In England and Wales this sits in private sector housing or environmental health; in Scotland with the council's private rented team; in Northern Ireland district councils have express power to prosecute. They can contact the landlord immediately and often get you back in the same day.
- Ring the police if you are locked out or unsafe.Police sometimes treat it as a civil matter. Tell them clearly that illegal eviction is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, or in Scotland under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, or in Northern Ireland under the Rent (NI) Order 1978, and ask for an incident number.
- Get emergency advice the same day.Shelter's emergency helpline, Shelter Scotland, Shelter Cymru, Housing Rights in Northern Ireland, and Citizens Advice. An injunction or interdict to get you back in is possible and it is a same-day application in a serious case.
- Gather the evidence now.Photographs of the changed lock or removed door, the messages, a written note of times and what was said, names of witnesses, and any documents showing you live there. Cases are won and lost on what was captured in the first day.
- Do not force your way back in.Using or threatening violence to secure entry is itself an offence, and it converts you from complainant to defendant. Let the council or the court do it.
- Understand what you can recover.Damages for illegal eviction can be substantial, and separate awards exist for the landlord's profit from the eviction in some circumstances. In Scotland a wrongful termination order is available where you left because of a misleading notice. In England a council can also impose a civil financial penalty without any conviction.
- Keep paying rent if you can.Continuing to pay, or offering to, makes your position considerably stronger and removes the landlord's most obvious counter-argument. If you cannot get back in, keep the money aside and record the offer.
- Ask about emergency accommodation.If you cannot return that night, the council's homelessness service has duties. Say that you have been illegally evicted, which is a different situation from ordinary homelessness and is usually treated urgently.
Tips
- Save your landlord's messages before anything is deleted, and back them up somewhere off the phone.
- Ask the council for the officer's name and a reference. Cases move faster when there is a named officer.
- Keep proof you live there — the tenancy, a bill, bank statements — somewhere other than the property.
Common mistakes
- Accepting 'it is a civil matter' — Illegal eviction is a criminal offence in all four nations. Name the statute, ask for an incident number, and involve the council, whose officers deal with it routinely.
- Not writing anything down at the time — These cases turn on what happened and when. A contemporaneous note made on the day carries far more weight than a recollection three months later.
If it doesn't work
The locks have been changed while you were out
Cause: Unlawful deprivation of occupation — Fix: Ring the council's tenancy relations team and the police immediately, and Shelter or Housing Rights the same day. Photograph everything. Do not break in.
The electricity has been cut off
Cause: Withdrawal of services, which is harassment — Fix: Report it to the council and the supplier. If the account is in your name, the supplier can help restore it. Keep every message about it.
Your belongings have been put outside
Cause: Both illegal eviction and, potentially, interference with your goods — Fix: Photograph everything before moving it, get help to store it safely, and report to the council and the police. You can claim for damaged or lost items.
Questions people ask
Can my landlord evict me if I have not paid rent?
Not without a court or tribunal order. Arrears are a ground for possession, obtained through a process. They are never a justification for changing the locks.
What if the notice period has expired?
A notice expiring gives the landlord the right to apply for an order. It does not give them the right to remove you. Only an order, enforced by a bailiff, sheriff officer or the Enforcement of Judgments Office, can do that.
Does it count if my landlord just keeps letting themselves in?
It can be harassment. A landlord generally needs to give at least twenty-four hours' written notice and to visit at a reasonable time, and repeatedly entering without consent interferes with your right to live there quietly.
Am I protected as a lodger?
Lodgers sharing with a resident landlord are usually excluded occupiers and can be asked to leave on reasonable notice without a court order. The offences of harassment and of using violence to secure entry still protect you.