Eviction specialist bids to resolve squatting case

News Category: Industry News

Landlords’ hero Paul Shamplina has offered his services for free in the case of the Brighton landlady and her four-year-old son forced to live in a tent in a friend’s garden because their tenant has not moved out.
 
Suzy Butler even had to have a police escort to retrieve the tent from the house she has owned for five years.

The tenant, Carmen Nobre, moved into the property when Butler left to do charity work for two months in Peru back in February.

Nobre was on an assured shorthold tenancy and had agreed to leave when Butler returned, but is still in the property. She has not been paying her rent, but Butler had to wait for two months of arrears before she could issue an eviction notice, and the case has so far cost her £1,000.

The tenant has indicated she will ignore the eviction notice, which will then have to be dealt with by the courts.

Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, a company specialising in tenant eviction, said: “The harsh reality is that some tenants will be aware that, if they leave a property voluntarily, the council will not re-house them.

“However, if they are evicted, they may be eligible to be re-housed. In such a scenario, the tenant has a vested interest in staying put.

“Clearly, this highlights some weaknesses in the current housing benefit system, which we are expecting the Coalition Government to address shortly with their planned overhaul of the Local Housing Allowance system.
 
“At Landlord Action, we have seen many cases where serial bad tenants are abusing the system and our advice to landlords has always been to act quickly, since the court process can take some time.”
 
Shamplina has offered his services to assist the owner of the property, a charity worker, to regain her home at no cost.


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