Illegal eviction: what counts, what it costs you, and the council fine that needs no court

In England and Wales, illegal eviction is both a civil risk and a criminal offence, and since 1 May 2026 England has had a separate council civil-penalty route. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own illegal-eviction offences, but the England-only £40,000 council penalty does not apply there.

What counts as illegal eviction, and is it a criminal offence?

Illegal eviction in England and Wales includes unlawfully depriving a residential occupier of the premises, or trying to do so, and it is a criminal offence unless the landlord proves they believed, with reasonable cause, that the occupier had ceased to reside there. The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 says: “If any person unlawfully deprives the residential occupier of any premises of his occupation of the premises or any part thereof, or attempts to do so, he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves that he believed, and had reasonable cause to believe, that the residential occupier had ceased to reside in the premises.” That covers more than a rough physical removal: changing locks, blocking access, clearing belongings, cutting services to force someone out, or otherwise making the tenant give up occupation can be classed as unfair eviction. You cannot forcibly remove a tenant from your property unless the tenancy has lawfully ended and possession is recovered through the lawful route; on indictment, the offence can carry “a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.”

Can you change the locks if you think the tenant has abandoned the property?

In England, you should not change the locks just because you think the tenant has abandoned the property, because the old court-free abandoned-tenancy procedure was repealed from 27 December 2025 and there is now no general self-help route for an assured tenancy. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 removed the abandoned-premises scheme by saying: “In the Housing and Planning Act 2016, omit Part 3 (recovering abandoned premises under assured shorthold tenancies).” The practical risk is criminal prosecution, an England-only council penalty, civil damages, and a separate claim for belongings if you clear the property. The statutory defence is real but narrow: Housing Act 1988 s.27 protects a landlord who proves “that the residential occupier had ceased to reside in the premises in question” at the relevant time, but belief is not enough unless the court accepts it was reasonably held. Wales is different: if the Renting Homes abandoned-dwelling procedure is completed, “the landlord may recover possession of the dwelling without court proceedings,” after a four-week warning period.

Can you enter the property while your tenant is in custody or has been arrested?

A tenant being arrested or in custody does not by itself end the tenancy or give the landlord a special right to enter, change the locks, clear belongings, or treat the property as abandoned. The ordinary access rule for repair inspection is still limited: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11 allows entry only “at reasonable times of the day and on giving 24 hours’ notice in writing to the occupier” for viewing condition and repair. If the police have disconnected electricity after a cannabis arrest, that may create urgent safety and insurance problems, but it does not turn the home into vacant possession; use police, utility, emergency-contractor and court routes rather than self-help where forced entry or exclusion is involved. The safest working assumption is that the tenancy and belongings remain the tenant’s unless there is a surrender, a court order, or a genuinely evidenced ceased-to-reside defence. A 2025 county-court judgment put the access limit sharply: “No judge has power to make an order permitting a landlord to force entry into their tenant’s home by way of enforcing an express or implied contractual right of access.”

How much compensation can a tenant be awarded for illegal eviction?

Illegal-eviction compensation in England and Wales has no fixed tariff, and statutory damages under Housing Act 1988 s.27 are assessed by the s.28 valuation formula rather than by rent arrears or a set number of months’ rent. Section 27 says the landlord is liable for “damages assessed on the basis set out in section 28 below,” and s.28 begins with “the difference in value” between the landlord’s interest with and without the occupier’s right. In real claims, awards can still be very large: Shelter reports a secure tenant awarded £90,500 after a landlord forced entry, cleared possessions and re-let, and Duncan Lewis reported £250 per day for 153 days homeless, totalling £38,250. A landlord who genuinely thought a tenant in custody had abandoned the property may have the Housing Act 1988 s.27(8)(a) defence, but custody with belongings left behind is exactly the kind of fact pattern where exposure remains real because intention to return may be hard to disprove.

If a tenant claims illegal eviction, an unprotected deposit and missing certificates all at once, do they add up?

Illegal eviction, deposit penalties and some compliance penalties can add up, because one strong defence on one issue does not automatically defeat the others. Housing Act 1988 s.27 says statutory eviction damages “shall be in addition to any liability arising apart from this section,” so a deposit penalty can sit alongside eviction damages, although the same loss of the right to occupy cannot be compensated twice. An unprotected-deposit claim is its own statutory remedy: Housing Act 2004 s.214 says the court must order payment of “not less than the amount of the deposit and not more than three times the amount of the deposit” within 14 days. Missing gas safety or EPC paperwork is different: in England it historically mattered most as a section 21 bar, because “A notice under subsection (1) or (4) of section 21 may not be given” while prescribed requirements were breached; it is not automatically a tenant compensation tariff. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm breaches after a remedial notice are council penalties, capped because “The amount of the penalty charge must not exceed £5,000.”

Can a council fine you for illegal eviction without going to court?

Many sites call £30,000 the illegal-eviction fine, but that is wrong: in England the direct council civil penalty for illegal eviction or harassment is up to £40,000 under Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1A, in force from 1 May 2026. Section 1A says: “A local housing authority may impose a financial penalty on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person has committed an offence under section 1 in relation to premises in England.” The cap is explicit: “The amount of a financial penalty imposed under this section is to be determined by the authority imposing it, but must not be more than £40,000.” This is separate from a tenant’s civil claim for damages, so both can arise from the same incident: the council penalty punishes the offence, while the tenant’s claim compensates loss. The older £30,000 figure belongs to Housing Act 2004 civil penalties for specified housing offences, because the government guidance says: “A civil penalty is available as an alternative for certain specified housing offences under the Housing Act 2004.”

Can you appeal an illegal-eviction award that is bigger than the arrears you are owed?

You can appeal an illegal-eviction award only on a proper appeal ground, not merely because the award is bigger than the rent arrears the tenant owes. In England and Wales, statutory damages are measured under Housing Act 1988 s.28 by “the difference in value” of the landlord’s interest with and without the occupier’s right, so £15,000 damages against £12,000 arrears is not automatically wrong. A county-court appeal needs permission, because CPR Part 52 says: “An appellant or respondent requires permission to appeal—”. The appeal court intervenes where the lower court was wrong or seriously procedurally unjust, not because the set-off feels unfair; the first deadline is usually 21 days where no other time is ordered, ending “21 days after the date of the decision of the lower court which the appellant wishes to appeal.” Arrears still matter: Housing Act 1988 s.27 lets the court reduce damages where appropriate, but that argument normally belongs at trial or in a focused appeal against the judge’s reasoning.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1 — “If any person unlawfully deprives the residential occupier of any premises of his occupation of the premises or any part thereof, or attempts to do so, he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves that he believed, and had reasonable cause to believe, that the residential occupier had ceased to reside in the premises.” Source
• Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1 — “(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.59 — “In the Housing and Planning Act 2016, omit Part 3 (recovering abandoned premises under assured shorthold tenancies).” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.27 — “(a)that the residential occupier had ceased to reside in the premises in question at the time when he was deprived of occupation as mentioned in subsection (1) above or, as the case may be, when the attempt was made or the acts were done as a result of which he gave up his occupation of those premises; or” Source
• Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 s.220 — “If an occupation contract is ended under this section the landlord may recover possession of the dwelling without court proceedings.” Source
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11 — “In a lease in which the lessor’s repairing covenant is implied there is also implied a covenant by the lessee that the lessor, or any person authorised by him in writing, may at reasonable times of the day and on giving 24 hours’ notice in writing to the occupier, enter the premises comprised in the lease for the purpose of viewing their condition and state of repair.” Source
• Southern Housing v James Emmanuel, Bromley County Court, 27 October 2025 — “No judge has power to make an order permitting a landlord to force entry into their tenant’s home by way of enforcing an express or implied contractual right of access.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.27 — “Subject to the following provisions of this section, where this section applies, the landlord in default shall, by virtue of this section, be liable to pay to the former residential occupier, in respect of his loss of the right to occupy the premises in question as his residence, damages assessed on the basis set out in section 28 below.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.28 — “The basis for the assessment of damages referred to in section 27(3) above is the difference in value, determined as at the time immediately before the residential occupier ceased to occupy the premises in question as his residence, between—” Source
• Shelter, civil remedies for harassment and illegal eviction — “a secure tenant was awarded £90,500 in damages after his local authority landlord forced entry into his flat while he was away, cleared his possessions and re-let it” Source
• Duncan Lewis, Tenant Awarded £53,000 Damages For Unlawful Eviction — “For general damages, the Court awarded £250 per day for each of the 153 days the tenant was homeless — a total of £38,250.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.27 — “(b)subject to subsection (5) below, shall be in addition to any liability arising apart from this section (whether in tort, contract or otherwise).” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.214 — “The court must order the landlord to pay to the applicant a sum of money not less than the amount of the deposit and not more than three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.21A — “A notice under subsection (1) or (4) of section 21 may not be given in relation to an assured shorthold tenancy of a dwelling-house in England at a time when the landlord is in breach of a prescribed requirement.” Source
• Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 reg.8 — “The amount of the penalty charge must not exceed £5,000.” Source
• Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1A — “A local housing authority may impose a financial penalty on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person has committed an offence under section 1 in relation to premises in England.” Source
• Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.1A — “The amount of a financial penalty imposed under this section is to be determined by the authority imposing it, but must not be more than £40,000.” Source
• Housing Act 2004 civil penalty guidance — “A civil penalty is available as an alternative for certain specified housing offences under the Housing Act 2004.” Source
• Civil Procedure Rules Part 52 — “An appellant or respondent requires permission to appeal—” Source
• Civil Procedure Rules Part 52 — “(b) where the court makes no such direction, and subject to the specific provision about time limits in rules 52.8 to 52.11 and Practice Direction 52D, 21 days after the date of the decision of the lower court which the appellant wishes to appeal.” Source