Read the previous report in Andrea’s eviction series 

This morning I received an email from the local police telling me that they have been in contact with my landlord.

[In a previous report Andrea told us that “When I last spoke to the police, they said they would organise a time for me to collect my belongings from the property – and accompany me there with the Safer Neighbourhoods Team’. But instead of this happening she is now being told to wait for the landlord to get in touch.]

I must now wait for the landlord to get in touch with me so I can collect my belongings and as there is no breach of peace, this is all the police tell me they can do.  

I responded to the police by telling them the breach of peace occurred when my landlord illegally evicted me without allowing me to collect my belongings. The deadline to pick up my belongings that was created by the police has come and gone and I still don’t have access to my things.   

This is why I got the police involved in the first place. 

I told them straight up I wasn’t happy with their response. All they did was reiterate what they had said in their first email, urging me to get back in contact with the landlord, the very same person who  had been persistently stalling my efforts to gain access to my belongings since the day that they had illegally evicted me. 

The police added that there was nothing else they can do according to the law.   

Shelter’s advice says nothing about the police gaining entry to a property you have been illegally evicted from in order for you to access your belongings.

This basically means that landlords in England can get away with chucking you out and leaving you homeless, without giving you access to your belongings. 

The Government this week has announced that the ban on section 21 no fault evictions has been delayed, meaning that private renters remain vulnerable to illegal evictions and homelessness. The lack of political will from all parties is dragging out the housing crisis and leaving people without a home for longer. 

Read the next report in Andrea’s eviction series