One landlord has received backlash for admitting to wanting to evict a tenant to make more money.
If you rent your property, you’ll have signed a tenancy agreement that means you can stay in the place you’re renting for a certain amount of time. Once that time elapses, you and your landlord can either negotiate a new agreement to extend your stay, or you may be told to pack up and move somewhere else.
Unless you have a shorthold tenancy, a landlord cannot evict you before your tenancy ends without a valid reason. Currently, Section 21 allows landlords to end shorthold tenancies in what’s also known as a “no-fault eviction”, but Labour have indicated this will be abolished when the Renters’ Rights Bill has passed – which could be as soon as this summer.
For renters in long-term tenancies, your landlord must give you suitable notice and obtain a court order to evict you, and this can only be done for valid reasons, such as you failing to pay your rent or damaging the property.
One landlord, however, has gone viral for trying to evict his tenant for a very bizarre reason. He told her that she would need to move out “immediately” because he wanted to turn her flat into a holiday home – so he could make more money.
Renter Chloe shared her emails with her landlord, Martin, with property strategist Jack Rooke, who then made a video using the messages and posted it on TikTok.
The first email from Martin told Chloe that she needed to be “gone permanently” as he was “taking back” the flat she was renting so that he could turn it into an Airbnb during the tourist season. He claimed the property had “more potential” this way, so he needed his tenant to move out.
Confused, Chloe asked if he was “serious”. Martin responded that it was “nothing personal” and that he would discount her final month’s rent as a “gesture of goodwill”.
Not having any of it, Chloe responded to tell him it was a “breach of contract” and was “possibly illegal”, especially as he hadn’t given her enough notice – let alone trying to evict her for no reason.
Martin came back and tried to sweeten the deal by insisting he would give her two weeks to move out, refund her deposit immediately, and even pay for a night or two in a hotel to help her transition to a new flat. But the tenant stuck to her guns, stating her deposit isn’t a “bargaining chip” and is legally hers – provided she hasn’t damaged the property.
She also said the contract Martin signed said she was entitled to two months’ notice before eviction, so she wouldn’t be moving out until that period had elapsed.
In a final act of desperation, Martin threatened to “change the locks and keep her deposit” if she didn’t comply. But this backfired when Chloe said she had forwarded his emails to the Property Ombudsman and the local council, so there would be legal consequences if he followed through with his threats.
With his tail between his legs, Martin backed down and told her she could stay in the property “for as long as she likes”. Not wanting to stay in a property with a “toxic” landlord, Chloe said she would still be moving out once her contract ended.
Talking about the messages, Jack said: “She’s played the game absolutely perfectly there. I don’t know what this geezer was thinking, but he’s so far in the wrong. It’s just not acceptable.”
Commenters on the video were firmly on Chloe’s side, with many saying they’ve had problems with landlords in the past that have led them to always print out all correspondence.
One person said: “I always make sure any correspondence with my landlord is in print; previous experience with a bad landlord has made me protect myself more when I was told to leave.”