Harassment and illegal eviction
Harassment and illegal eviction quick links:
It is illegal for your landlord to harass you or force you to leave your home without following the right legal process.
Always get advice if what your landlord is doing seems unfair. You may have more rights than you think.
Take a look at the pages below and download our free illegal eviction fact sheet.
If you are under 25 you could also look at our advice about having problems with your landlord, specifically put together for young people.
What can I do if my landlord is harassing me or threatening to evict me?
There are some practical steps you can take:
Write to or email your landlord or letting agent
Tell them that they are acting unlawfully and that they should stop harassing or threatening you. Warn them that if it continues you will take legal action.
Keep copies of every letter, text or email that you send and/or receive.
If you have a conversation with your landlord or agent follow this up with a letter or email that confirms what was said and what was agreed.
Stay safe
Have a friend or adviser with you whenever you have to deal with your landlord in person.
Contact the police if your landlord:
- makes you feel unsafe in your home
- threatens you with violence or is violent.
Call 101 or 999 if it is an emergency. You can call them any time of day or night.
Keep records
Keep a record of what has been happening. Include:
- the time, date and place where any incident took place and a short description of what happened (keep a diary)
- photographs or videos of any damage the landlord has caused to the property or your belongings
- short descriptions of any incidents by anyone who witnessed them.
These records will be important if you need to take legal action against your landlord.
Report incidents
Report any incidents to the local council and/or to Rent Smart Wales. Licensed private landlords and letting agents have to comply with a Code of Practice. If they are not doing so Rent Smart Wales can investigate and get in touch with them on your behalf.
If you have been illegally evicted and need to get back into the property, the council should help you. They can contact the landlord and explain that what they are doing is illegal. If it is swafe for you to return to the property the council should help with this. The council may also consider prosecuting the landlord under criminal charges.
You can also contact the police. If you have difficulty getting the police to help you, get help from an adviser. They might be able to speak to the police on your behalf.
The council’s homelessness department may help you with emergency accommodation if you’re illegally evicted or forced to leave your home because of harassment.
Get together with other contract-holders
If you live in shared accommodation your landlord might also be harassing other contract-holders. If this is the case, you could all join together and approach the landlord as a group.
Some types of shared accommodation are known as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and councils have extra powers to take action against landlords of HMOs. This might apply to you if you live in a bedsit, a house or flat shared by several households, a hostel or a bed and breakfast hotel.
