Illegal eviction information for police officers

For police officers attending an illegal eviction

This property is being occupied under a legal tenancy agreement that falls under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

The landlord must apply to court to evict this tenant lawfully. Only court appointed bailiffs can enforce this.

Under section 1 Protection from Eviction Act 1977, any individual who deliberately and unlawfully deprives the occupier of their occupation of this property is committing a criminal offence.

The same applies to any individual who carries out acts calculated to cause the occupier to give up occupation without following the lawful process. If there is no court officer present, it is most likely an illegal eviction.

The landlord must apply to court to evict this tenant lawfully.

What police officers can do

When attending an incident which may involve a Protection from Eviction Act 1977 offence, it is suggested that police officers:

• NOTE details which may be relevant to the above offences, including admissions, accusations, etc
• WARN the landlord where you suspect they may be committing, or about to commit an offence, that this will be reported to the appropriate authority
• consider ARRESTING the landlord if they try to get into the premises against the wishes of the residential occupier (S.6(1) Criminal Law Act 1977)
• consider appropriate action in relation to OTHER OFFENCES e.g. assault, breach of the peace, harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997
• GATHER EVIDENCE that may be relevant to a criminal offence. This could include assault, breach of the peace or harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997
• try and persuade both parties to PUT THINGS BACK as they were (e.g. try to get the landlord to allow the tenant back in, to change the locks back or to give the tenant a key)
• do not get involved in civil disputes about rent, repairs - these are unlikely to have much bearing on the criminal law
• REFER the tenant and landlord to the local authority's private sector housing team
• INFORM the local authority's private sector housing team of any relevant incident as soon as possible
• CONTACT THE COUNCIL'S HOMELESS TEAM - If you cannot help the tenant to access their home, the homeless team may have a legal duty to provide emergency housing for some tenants. All councils have an out of hours team if it's after 5pm