A Guide to Tenants Defending Revenge Evictions After Section 21 Notices
In this blog, our Landlord and Tenant Lawyers examine tenants’ rights to defend possession proceedings brought by landlords after a Section 21 notice has been served.
If you need revenge eviction legal advice or assistance with defending possession proceedings, our Eviction Solicitors in London can help you.
Contact Online and London-based OTS Solicitors for eviction legal advice for tenants.
Appointments are available for phone, online, and in-person consultations at our London offices.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil, Tagalog/Ilonggo, and Urdu/Punjabi.
What is a revenge eviction?
Revenge eviction is also called retaliatory eviction. It occurs when a landlord attempts to evict a tenant from their rental property after the tenant has made a genuine complaint about the landlord's failure to meet their repair obligations. The landlord retaliates by serving a Section 21 notice as a precursor to initiating no-fault possession proceedings and obtaining an eviction order against the tenant.
Why do landlords start revenge evictions?
Some landlords believe it is easier to evict a tenant rather than comply with their UK landlord repair obligations. Section 21 notices and accelerated possession proceedings may seem less expensive than paying out for potentially costly repairs, and the next tenant may be too worried about losing the tenancy to complain about ongoing property maintenance issues.
Starting a no-fault eviction can be a commercial decision that can be a costly mistake for the landlord if a tenant takes specialist eviction legal advice and defends the possession claim.
Defence to a Section 21 notice and possession claim
Most tenants think that if their landlord serves a Section 21 notice, they have no defence to a no-fault eviction. That is untrue.
A tenant may be able to challenge the possession claim if:
- The Section 21 notice is invalid, and/or
- The eviction is retaliatory.
For more information on valid Section 21 notices, read our blog: Section 21 Notice Validity.
Revenge eviction as a defence
A Section 21 notice may not be valid if a tenant complained about disrepair in a rental property before the service of the Section 21 notice.
If the Section 21 notice is invalid, a landlord cannot obtain a possession order and evict the tenant because a valid notice is a prerequisite to possession.
Invalid Section 21 notices and revenge eviction
The court may refuse to make a possession order against a tenant based on revenge eviction where:
- The tenant reported the disrepair at the rental property to their landlord, and
- The landlord did not respond within 14 days, and
- The tenant complained to the Local Authority environmental health team, and
- The Local Authority issued either an improvement notice or an emergency works notice.
An improvement notice is given under Section 11 or 12 of the Housing Act 2004, and an emergency works notice is issued under Section 40(7) of the Act.
When a Local Authority issues either type of notice, the landlord cannot usually serve a valid Section 21 notice for six months after the notice is issued. There are some exceptions to this.
The law on revenge eviction
The law on retaliatory eviction is found in the Deregulation Act 2015.
The law and the process to challenge a revenge eviction can be quite complicated. For example, the rule that a landlord must respond within 14 days if the tenant reports disrepair.
The detailed law does not specify that the landlord must carry out the repairs within 14 days after receiving a written complaint from the tenant. Instead, within that 14-day timeframe, the landlord must provide an adequate response to the tenant in writing that must:
- Describe the action the landlord plans to take to address the disrepair complaint, and
- Sets out a reasonable timescale within which the action will be taken.
For example, the landlord’s initial response may be to arrange an inspection of the problem to work out the trades required to fix it.
The retaliatory eviction law is complex because landlords can escape its provisions if they respond reasonably to the disrepair complaint, if the house is on the market, if the mortgage company has repossessed the rental property, or if a receiver has been appointed.
Withholding rent because a rental property requires repair
Many tenants believe that their best response to a landlord not responding to their property maintenance requests is to withhold their rent to persuade their landlord to act and resolve the disrepair claim.
Landlord and Tenant Solicitors emphasise the importance of taking legal advice on housing law before withholding all or some of the rental payments due under the tenancy agreement.
If rent is withheld before a landlord has served a Section 21 notice, the landlord could serve a Section 8 notice and seek possession based on rent arrears.
Alternatively, some tenants think it is best to take disrepair matters into their own hands. They arrange for a tradesperson to carry out the repairs and then deduct the amount of the invoice from their rent as the easiest solution when their landlord has a history of being slow to sort out inspections and arrange for repairs to be carried out. Even where a landlord gives permission for a tenant to undertake repairs to a rental property, this can lead to disputes between the landlord and tenant if things go wrong. For example, where the tenant is unhappy with the standard of repair and wants the landlord to pay for additional work or to allow the tenant to sort out additional remedial work.
How OTS Solicitors can help tenants facing eviction
If you have received a Section 21 notice after flagging up disrepair issues and property maintenance with your landlord, you may have a strong case to defend the possession proceedings and to pursue a disrepair compensation claim. Our Eviction Solicitors and Disrepair Lawyers in London can help you.
Online and London-based legal advice for tenants
For advice on tenant rights, disrepair claims and revenge eviction, call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form.
Appointments are available for phone, Zoom, or online consultations, as well as at our London office.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil, Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi.
Related Posts
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Disrepair as a Defence to Possession Proceedings