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Landlord sentenced after found guilty of illegal eviction of tenant

A landlord had been sentenced after being found guilty of the illegal eviction of his former tenant.

A lengthy investigation was conducted by Warrington council after a tenant came to the housing advice service in the city following his eviction by Adil Lahmer, who said he wanted to occupy his investment property himself. 

Initially Lahmer stated he wanted to occupy the property to self-isolate as he was returning from Germany, but later it was found he wanted to stay in the property.

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Lahmer had originally denied the truth of the housing arrangement with his tenant - who was a friend - and stated that the tenancy agreement that was signed had been a forgery. This was later found out not to be the case.

Recorder Richard Leiper QC stated that the offence committed was a deliberate act, planned in advance and committed in breach of a written agreement and the day after a rent payment for December had been made by the tenant.

He also said the defendant may not have been aware of the seriousness of the offence and may well not be a commercial landlord, however, he had done very little to mitigate his culpability.

An aggravating factor was the defendant’s position from the outset that the tenancy agreement was a forgery when this was not the case. 

A statement from Warrington council claims that while Lahmer told the court that he was remorseful, that was not reflected in his account to the Probation Service, with his account differing from the evidence in the case.

With regard to harm to the victim – this was described as considerable. The tenant lost his job, his studies were affected and the company which he had recently set up was subsequently dissolved. There was also an impact upon his relationship with his children. He also lost most of his personal possessions.

Lahmer was sentenced to 24 weeks’ custody suspended for 18 months; 150 hours of unpaid work; £541 compensation payable to the tenant; and £1,000 contribution to the council’s prosecution costs.

A council spokesman says: “This is a fantastic outcome after the hard work that has been put in by our housing and legal teams. This should also serve as a warning for other unscrupulous landlords that this behaviour is not acceptable.

“If you are a private tenant and are illegally evicted, then the council may be able to assist with finding you alternative accommodation, negotiating with the landlord on your behalf or even supporting a prosecution against your landlord, if there is sufficient evidence.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    Council calls this outcome "fantastic".

    It is - unbelievable - which is what fantastic means!

    How is occupying his own property not a valid reason for eviction? It's even valid in the People's Republic of Scotland, although no longer a mandatory condition for eviction.

    Again nothing about why the landlord really wanted rid of the tenant!

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    I had to pay a tenant £1000 compensation once, it was worth every penny to see the back of him.

     
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    It sounds like he terminated the tenancy on an investment property without issuing the proper notice and giving the tenant time to find somewhere else, and that there were some quite serious consequences for the tenant who was also his friend, though presumably not any longer!

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    Peter, you are naive. How often have you lent money, or lent something or done a favour to s friend or relative, and can't recover your money or goods ? And when doing a favour it backfires ?

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    Totally agree Edwin favours very often backfire, I've certainly been caught, lent money, tools and yes even rented to people that I really should not have done so, we learn by our mistakes and it makes us harder

     
    Zoe S

    Edwin it’s hard to ascertain exactly what actually occurred due to the limited information given in this article.

     
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    He really should have got a custodial sentence for a forgery !

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    It says it wasn't a forgery and the landlord continuing to insist it was went against him.

     
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    Mr Brown you are correct. He was perjuring himself and kept doing it, which would normally warrants a custodial sentence However l wonder how it was proven that it wasn't a forgery ?

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    The surest way to loose a friend or employee is to lend them money, very unlikely you will ever get it back even when they are in clover.

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    Yep, been there, got the tee shirt , still owed £30 from 1975, which was a good week's wage back then.

     
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    Andrew, yes I know that one to had a flat sharer together with others while one was out of work in 1964 when we lived in Hornsey, he couldn’t find work so I took a day off from my own work to look for a start and got 2. I sent him to one in place of me to Greenpark working on Victoria tunnel construction earning £122.00 pw but he never gave me back the £85.00 borrowed while out or work.

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