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OK, we have all thought about it. The tenant hasn't paid their rent. They've been messing you about and you are at your Witt's end.You feel like 'tooling' up. Going round there and using a little bit of gentle persuasion to get your rent. After all you are only getting what is rightfully yours.
So what wrong with that?
A recent report of a landlord in Staffordshire who did exactly that exposes the dangers that a landlord faces if they let there 'heart' rule their head.
The young landlord apparently went round to the tenants house with a mate. One carrying a knife, the other armed with a saw. Now firstly, why a saw. What was his mate going to do if things got messy. Saw the tenants leg off!? Come come chaps, you should have thought this through.
The landlord and his mate went round threatened the tenant. The police were called and the two were arrested. Now reading about this I naively would have thought that the landlord and his buddy would have got a fine and told by the judge not to do it again. But no.
I was genuinely shocked that both were given an 8 month prison sentence.
It appears that the tenant must have pulled on the judges heart strings. His wife was pregnant and "The tenant felt threatened and intimidated. He saw both the knife and the saw."
The Judge Paul Glenn deliberating on the case stated:
"The tenant genuinely believed you would put those weapons to use."
"We live in a society which is supposed to be civilised. Adams could have taken legal action to recover this debt."
"Courts will not tolerate people taking the law into their own hands and terrorising people."
No prizes for guessing who's side the judge was on then!
Even the tenant was surprised about the outcome:
"We expected him to just get a rap over the knuckles, but we are pleased with the sentence because the incident left my wife, who was pregnant at the time, petrified."
So do you think the tenant will be paying the landlords rent while he's inside and what happens to the landlords mortgage, who pays that?
The law can sometimes be an ass. This case just highlights that landlords should not take things into their own hands, because things can get very messy......especially if you take a saw. No landlords should go through the necessary steps to get possession if the tenant stops paying their rent. Better still make sure that you have a guarantor.
Have you any experiences with the law? Do you think you were treated fairly, post your comments below.
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8 comments:
Despite being a landlord who has had non-paying tenants, I find the tone of this article incredible. What sort of landlord goes to the tenants armed with a knife and a saw?! The article portrays an unfortunate landlord at the end of his teather - but approaching the tenant with weapons is completely ridiculous.
I have been pretty frustrated with tenants in the past - I've wanted to scream at their behaviour - but his actions were completely and utterly unacceptable.
As for that nasty Mr Judge being on the side of the eeeevil tenants... the article is a complete joke. Put yoursef in the picture: two people turn up at your door threatening you with a saw and a knife, due to unpaid debts. Come on, be sensible. It's just not the way civilised society works.
Good to hear the law cracking down on dangerous Anti-Social behaviour & threats.
I've been a landlord for over 10 years, had non-paying tenants (but got back over £6k the legal, court-authorised way).
This Landlord should have know better: That he didn't is no defence in law & his experience should be a lessons to all landlords: Do it the calm, legal, sensible way!!
I agree violence is never the answer.
Im guessing the severity of the the sentence seems to be the issue of the article and not condoning the use of threatening behaviour.
Would you write a similar article about a Tenant who threatened his landlord?
Hi John. Let me say I do not condone in any way the use of violence or it's threat to solve any dispute over property.
However, let me paint a scenario for you.
You buy a car. You take out a loan to buy it. Then somebody steals your car. They've done it before & it turns out that they are well known for pulling this kind of stunt. They repeatedly drive past your house in your car. You cannot afford to pay for the loan to buy your car and face bankruptcy. All this whilst having to watch somebody else driving around town in your motor.
Miffed! Powerless! Annoyed to the point of raising your voice.
Substitute buy-to-let for car & this perhaps explains why this particular landlord lost his rag. This does not excuse his actions but an 8 month prison sentence?
I maintain the law can sometimes be an ass.
That is not a good analogy, it's a different situation -- far too different in important ways to the actual case in hand to make it a useful comparison. And anyway, it still wouldn't be OK to threaten with a saw and a knife.
Hi Mark, of course it's a different situation - that's what makes it analagous. However, I'm not sure what is so very different. Just because it's only rental money rather than cash - it's not theft. And because it's a house rather than an other type of private property; an owner has less rights?
Looks like your logic may have been fuddled by too much Guardian reading Mark.
I agree that the use of threatening behaviour is still completely unacceptable. I'm still confused as to why the landlords side kick tooled up with a saw?
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