Landlord prosecuted for unlawful eviction
Published: 5 February 2020
Fountain in front of Council House
Derby City Council has successfully prosecuted a landlord for the unlawful eviction of a tenant.
Mr Sajjad Ahmed of Derby was prosecuted by Derby City Council’s Housing Standards Team for the offence which took place at Dairy House Road, Derby. Mr Ahmed pleaded guilty to the offence at a plea hearing in December 2019 and was sentenced at South Derbyshire Magistrates Court on Thursday 23rd January 2020.
The offence related to a House in Multiple Occupation. Mr Ahmed had taken over management of the property from his brother, who owned the property, after a family bereavement. He was verbally abusive to the tenant, making threats and ordering them to leave the property, without serving the required notice. The tenant, fearing for their safety, felt they had no choice but to leave.
Mr Ahmed was sentenced to a 16 week curfew for the unlawful eviction and ordered to pay the Council’s prosecution costs of £809.02. He was also ordered to a pay a victim surcharge of £85 and compensation to the victim of £100.
When sentencing Mr Ahmed, District Judge Taaffe said that he was deeply concerned by the case and made it clear that it was only Mr Ahmed’s early guilty plea that have saved him from prison. He said that it was clear that Mr Ahmed had been the hired muscle and that he had taken the law into his own hands.
The Council’s Housing Standards Team is dedicated to improving living standards for private tenants in Derby and ensuring their safety and well-being is a top priority. The team has a zero tolerance policy for landlords who blatantly flout the law by using fear and intimidation towards their tenants.
Cllr Jonathan Smale, Cabinet member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Street Pride said:
This is another good result for our Housing Standards team who work so hard to protect the tenants of Derby from rogue landlords such as this. If private tenants do have concerns about their landlords they can have confidence that our team is in place to take action where necessary.