An Ashton man has finally regained possession of his rented home 11 days after his landlord unlawfully evicted him.
Jason Smith, of Bolton Road in Ashton in Makerfield, was unlawfully evicted from his home at around 5pm on Friday May 8th after his landlord changed the locks while he was out.
A representative of the landlord had earlier let himself into the property while Mr Smith was in and threatened to remove him.
Later, Mr Smith received a call while he was out to say his locks had been changed and when he arrived back home, the property agent would not give him the new keys, literally making him homeless.
Mr Smith called his solicitor, Michelle Stevenson of Stephensons Solicitors LLP, a housing law expert who acts on behalf of tenants across the borough. Michelle immediately obtained a High Court injunction which compelled Mr Smith’s Landlord to allow immediate re-admittance to his home, but this was ignored by the landlord.
Jason was then forced to spend the next week sleeping on friends’ and family’s sofas until Wigan Council’s Tenancy Relations officers stepped in and were able to have him re-housed while the legal process continued.
At a hearing on Tuesday, the landlord gave the keys back to Jason, enabling him to return home after a nightmare 11 days out of his home. The landlord was also sentenced to 28 days in prison, suspended for 12 months and has been forced to pay the legal costs. His co-director had his case adjourned.
If the landlord makes any further breaches to the injunction, their company assets will be sequestrated.
Michelle Stevenson, an associate at Stephensons, said: “This is a classic example of what can go wrong if landlords fail to follow the law. Our client was fully entitled to remain in the property as the landlord had not followed the correct procedure for terminating a tenancy. When they changed the locks, they unlawfully evicted my client out onto the street.
“We are pleased the outcome of this case means Jason can return to his home after what has been a very stressful experience.
“It is shocking how many landlords are not following correct legal procedures in how they should treat their tenants. As an indicator, in the last two months alone, my department has taken on more than two hundred new instructions relating to landlord and tenant issues, it’s a very big, very real problem.”
Jason Smith added: “This last two weeks have been hell. The situation had caused me a great deal of stress and inconvenience. I was unlawfully evicted with only the clothes on my back and for 11 days I was unable to access any of my personal belongings and had to sleep on friend’s and family’s sofas.”
