Landlord jailed for illegal eviction

News Category: Legal

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A landlord has been hit with a jail term after being found guilty of evicting his tenants illegally.

Geoffrey Dillon of Burnt Tree, Tipton, was charged for breaching Section 1(2) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 after he changed the locks of his property.

Mr Dillon had entered the property while his clients were out shopping at which point he changed the locks and subsequently attempted to secure the tenants' belongings to cover unpaid rent.

The tenants had attempted to resolve the matter but were rebuffed by their landlord who claimed that the lack of a tenancy agreement enabled him to ignore regulations, residentiallandlord.co.uk reports.

Mr Dillon's plea of not guilty was rejected by the court which imposed a ten week prison sentence and told to pay £4,000 compensation.

He subsequently refused to pay his tenants and will now face a further three months in jail.

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