I was illegally evicted by my landlord who changed the locks when i was out. All my worldly possessions were in the apartment i had been able to call home.
I was referred to Brian the next day and met him at 11am to go through the details of my situation. By 3.30pm he had 'phoned the local County Court and applied for an emergency hearing to grant an injunction to allow me to access my apartment again. It took less than 10 minutes in front of a judge for him to successfully argue my case, using his detailed knowledge of the law as it relates to tenants and housing. The judge was impressed to the point where he immediately ordered an injunction which demanded that the landlord immediately give me a set of keys to access the property.
i was hugely impressed not just by his immediate grasp of current legislation, but also by his knowledge of procedure and his professional approach.
For those of you who want a bit more detail, i am 60 yrs of age, lost my business through covid and for the first time in 36 years of working for a living, found myself on benefits. When i arrived back at the house in which i had the 2nd floor as an apartment, in the freezing cold and 7.30pm on a February night, imagine the shock to find the locks had been changed by the live in landlord. I rang the bell but he refused to let me in saying i had been evicted! I immediately went online and read enough in 5 minutes to see that he needed a court order to evict me and that what he had done was illegal, plain and simple. I called 999 and asked for the Police. Sadly, they did not know the law and when they arrived, sided with the landlord, even when i pointed out to them, clearly and calmly, why i was in the right. No good. They told me to go and stop hassling the landlord! Extraordinary but true.
The next morning i spoke to a solicitor at a housing charity who specialised in assisting tenants ho were in difficulty. I was staggered to hear him say that as a lodger there was nothing he could do to help as i had no rights. Even when i explained to him the little i had learned, showing it was from an official .gov website, he stalled and said there really wasn't anything he could do. It was the last thing i expected from a solicitor who apparently specialised in housing law. A complete disgrace. This experience left me feeling deeply depressed. I had little money, was having to spend that on staying in a cheap hotel, with no clothes and no possessions.
I then 'phoned the local council housing dept explaining it was an emergency. I went through my circumstances with the housing officer who also said that as a lodger, i had few rights and there was nothing he could do. When i explained the law correctly to him, he was taken aback and said i should be careful with online opinion as it wasn't always correct. When i told him this "opinion" was set out clearly on a .gov website and emailed him the link, he had the grace to apologise and gave me Brian's number as somebody who would help.
Speaking with Brian on the 'phone was a breath of fresh air, and i told him so, as it was the first time somebody actually KNEW the detail of the law. He told me to come in the next day and was confident a judge would issue an injunction.
If you are in a tough place with a landlord who has acted illegally, i suggest you call Brian because what he managed for me within 24 hrs was nothing short of extraordinary and i owe him a considerable debt of thanks.
