By Rebecca Wilks. Cover image by Veronika Merkova
Cardiff Council has presided over a decade-long “systemic failure” to deal with illegal evictions, the High Court has said, amid warnings by housing charity Shelter Cymru that the problem is on the rise.
The declaration came in a court case brought by the Public Law Project, after the council refused to consider investigating a landlord who had changed the locks and moved new residents in while his tenant was staying at a friend’s house, leaving the man homeless.
During proceedings Cardiff Council admitted that it had not investigated a single illegal eviction for at least ten years. A Freedom of Information request sent to all Welsh local authorities found that Cardiff had no policy in place for dealing with the issue.
The council is now prosecuting the landlord in question.
“We were contacted by Speakeasy Law Centre [a service providing free legal advice in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan] because they were concerned about how things are happening in Cardiff – that the council never considered prosecutions, that they always just referred people to Shelter Cymru and said that they couldn’t consider prosecution,” said Matthew Court, Wales Lawyer at the Public Law Project, who worked on the case.
Advisors at Speakeasy were assisting a man who arrived home one day in March 2022 to find that his key no longer opened the front door at the privately rented one-bedroom flat where he’d been living alone since 2017.
Tenant A – who wishes to remain anonymous to protect his privacy – had been staying at a friend’s house in Pontypridd for a few weeks during a period of illness, but he was up to date with his rent payments, and had received no previous indication from his landlord’s agent, Key House Cardiff, that there were any problems with his tenancy.
“Having knocked the door and window an unidentified individual came to the door but did not open it,” court documents read.
“The Landlord did not answer the Claimant’s telephone calls.”
According to Shelter Cymru, this situation is not as uncommon as one might assume – and data indicates that instances of illegal eviction are increasing.
“Since the start of 2023 we’ve seen a rise in illegal evictions in our casework across Wales,” Ruth Power, Shelter Cymru CEO, said.
“In March, instances of harassment and illegal eviction of private renters were 25 per cent higher than the same time last year.
“We regularly work with tenants who have been kicked out by their landlord, had the locks changed, been intimidated, or had their belongings thrown out on the street.
“It is an incredibly frightening experience.”
With nowhere else to go, Tenant A returned to his friend’s house and contacted Cardiff Council. He was assessed for housing support, and told to contact the police, Shelter Cymru, and his landlord.
Though forcing a tenant out of their home through illegal eviction and/or harassment is a criminal offence under the Protection From Eviction Act 1977, Tenant A alleges that South Wales Police told him they couldn’t help because his situation was a civil matter.
Shelter Cymru was unable to help as Tenant A’s landlord had already moved new residents into the property – the organisation operates a policy of not carrying out work that could leave anyone homeless.
Eventually Tenant A sought help from Speakeasy Law Centre, and a housing advisor there asked Cardiff Council to confirm whether it intended to investigate and consider prosecution for his landlord – it said that it did not.
“Cardiff Council has a power under Section Six of the Protection From Eviction Act 1977, to bring proceedings against people that have committed offences under that Act – eviction, harassment, that kind of thing,” Matthew Court told Voice.Wales.
“Our case was that they hadn’t even considered exercising this power, that they just basically told the client to go elsewhere – go to Shelter Cymru, or go to the police – and that was unlawful.
“If the council had considered the situation at all, and decided that, on the facts, they weren’t going to prosecute on this occasion – that would potentially be lawful.
“But they weren’t even considering the circumstances of the client’s case – or anybody’s case.”
Cardiff Council argued that “there is no legal or statutory obligation upon a Local Authority” to investigate landlords under the Protection From Eviction Act, that it didn’t have the resources or specialist knowledge within its officers to pursue prosecution, and that it would be “unreasonable” to expect the council to help Tenant A get back into his home through a legal injunction.
During proceedings, the authority admitted that it had gotten rid of its Tenant Liaison Officer – the role which ordinarily would have dealt with investigating these cases – back in 2012.
An FOI request by the Public Law Project, meanwhile, found that the council had no policy in place for responding to reports of illegal eviction.
“I think the majority [of councils] had some kind of policy which they were able to send us – Cardiff obviously didn’t,” said Matthew Court.
“Given that they’re one of the bigger authorities in Wales, the capital city, and likely to have the most cases of illegal eviction simply because you have more people living and renting there, it was very surprising that the authority had no policy whatsoever in place, and had not considered taking any action at all on the problem over the last 10 years.”
Owain Rhys James, who acted as Tenant A’s barrister in the High Court case, said that these failures acted “as a total bar to investigation”.
Mr James went on: “Not only does it give rise to a risk of unfairness, but effectively guarantees it.
“The System adopted by [Cardiff Counci] results in the most vulnerable members of society, those who are made homeless by unlawful eviction, being left without recourse.”
High Court judge Keyser KC agreed, issuing a declaration last week that the council had acted unlawfully in its decision not to investigate Tenant A’s landlord, and that this unlawful decision had resulted from the council’s “systemic failure since 2012 to resource itself adequately”.
“I’d hope this outcome has a significant impact because the council now has the resources to consider prosecutions, and they’ve also produced a policy on what the council should do when faced with unlawful evictions, so that housing officers know what steps they should take,” said Matthew Court..
“Hopefully this will act as a deterrent – it’s a huge deterrent, I think, if a landlord knows that the local authority could potentially take them to court if they illegally evict or harass a tenant.
“For organisations that support tenants, like Shelter Cymru and Speakeasy, it’s another tool in the armoury.”
Ruth Power added: “There are a very high number of evictions happening legally in Wales, so it’s likely that the increase in illegal evictions is happening for similar reasons – buy-to-let mortgages becoming more expensive, and the new Renting Homes (Wales) Act that some landlords want to avoid.
“Rents have skyrocketed, and some landlords might think they can get a higher rent with different tenants.
“All legitimate landlords in Wales will have had training from Rent Smart Wales in how not to illegally evict – ignorance is no excuse.
“But when local authorities fail to prosecute, it sends a message to rogue landlords that they can get away with breaking the law.
“That’s why we were happy to help the Public Law Project to bring this important legal action.”
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “We note the outcome of the case and acknowledge the judge’s findings in relation to the Council’s obligations under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
“Policy and procedures are now in place to support tenants who have been illegally evicted by their landlord and additional resources are also being committed to this area.
“When a tenant presents to us after being illegally evicted by their landlord, we endeavour to work with both parties to achieve a positive outcome, including via mediation to attempt to rescue a tenancy.
“In the event of a landlord being unwilling to co-operate and proceeding to evict, the Council does investigate and when appropriate, will proceed to prosecute landlords who evict tenants unlawfully.
“Criminal proceedings are currently active against the landlord involved in this eviction in question from 2022.”
South Wales Police was approached for comment.
