Tenancy & deposits
What is retaliatory eviction?
Retaliatory eviction is serving a no-fault notice in response to a tenant complaining about disrepair. Where a local authority has served a relevant notice, a section 21 notice can be invalid for a period.
The protection works through the local authority. A tenant complaint that leads to an improvement notice or emergency remedial action blocks a no-fault notice for a defined period afterwards.
It means a disrepair complaint has consequences for possession, which is a reason to treat repair reports promptly quite apart from the repairing duty itself.
It also means the sequence of events matters. A notice served before a complaint is in a different position from one served after, and the dates are what establish which.
What goes wrong in practice
- A notice served shortly after a complaint, with no attention to the sequence.
- Repair reports not actioned, allowing a complaint to escalate to the authority.
- No record of when a repair was reported and when it was attended.