'Racist' director Paul Shea of WD Properties (UK) Ltd convinced bungling and inexperienced Met Police Officers that a lawful occupant can be evicted without breach of contract contrary to the Prevention of Eviction Act 1977 following a court case days earlier that Central London County Court Judge HHJ Luba QC allowed victim tenant to amend a claim to increase damages amid a pending High Court injunction hearing.
A Barnet charity working to stop illegal evictions has urged the Metropolitan police to give its officers better training after they failed to arrest a landlord who allegedly trespassed while the occupants who only days after entering into a with a key unbeknownst to the occupants and authorised the changing of the locks to leave Miss Peroni homeless on 24 hours after moving her personal items into the property.
Miss Peroni was an occupant at the property in the High Road, North Finchley obtained by her employer in a corporate lease for 2 years signed on 5 August 2020 with WD Properties (UK) Ltd whose directors are the Shea brothers Paul and James.
The day the contract effectively starting on the 6 August 2020 the Shea’s failed to deliver possession of the property that was described as in a state of disrepair and neglect Miss Peroni [Not her real name] said she was shocked when saw several of the landlord’s contractors and one of the directors scurrying around trying to fix repairs.
Paul Shea was told by the tenant’s corporate legal department that WD Properties (UK) Ltd had breach the terms of the contract in failing to deliver the property despite demanding over £6000 up front in breach of the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
WD Properties (UK) Ltd now face legal action over breach of contract, and now face an injunctive action at the High Court following an attempt for the Tenant to change the locks illegally changed by WD Properties (UK) Ltd.
Roz Spencer of Safer Renting, an advice service for tenants backed by four London boroughs, said people were being evicted illegally every week in most British towns and cities, but the police nearly always failed to treat it as a crime. “We would like the police to understand that it is a criminal offence to kick someone out without a possession order,” she said. “Their job is to intervene when a crime has taken place.”
She said that she advised tenants threatened by their landlords to call the police but had to warn them that the police may dismiss it as a civil matter. “But it is not a civil matter. It is a criminal offence to disregard the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.”
Figures seen by the Financial Fraudster News Investigations show that the number of families contacting Citizens Advice about illegal evictions has increased by just over 40% since 2014, with nearly 2,000 families seeking assistance last year.
Miss Peroni was told by her James Shea that she would have to leave the rented home because his solicitor said the contract was void based on what was found at the Central London County Court on 21 August 2020 to be bogus. In proceedings before HHJ Luba QC the judge would not hear two injunction applications based on jurisdictional issues, the matters are now before the High Court, but did allow the corporate tenant to amend the current claim form before the court to increase the claim for damages that WD Properties (UK) Ltd must now face.
Peroni claimed the landlord did not serve her with a legal notice giving at least two months’ notice and failed to obtain a court order for eviction and no evidence or court order remotely exists that states the tenancy contract has been declared void.
On the morning of the 23 August 2020 when the tenant sent a locksmith to change the locks to allow Miss Peroni the quiet enjoyment of the property. One of the Shea’s arrived and started to call police who had been made aware earlier of the process.
The hapless and negligent police officers not only did not understand that the Prevention of Eviction Act 1977 gave rise to an arrestable offence. However, when officers Metropolitan police station turned up, the Police sided with the criminal conduct of the WD Properties (UK) Ltd giving no regard to the Prevention of Eviction Act 1977 they threaten Miss Perioni with arrest. “The police didn’t want to hear what we had to say – they listen to unsupported lies of the racially abusive Mr Shea who singled out the only single black employee of the corporate tenant amongst many and called him an 'animal' under the nose of the two police officers who gave no regard to the racially aggravated remarks, the victim of the abuse said that if he [Mr Shea] said it again he would punch him regardless of the failure by the police to interven,” she said.
Dave Hickling, chair of the Association of Tenancy Relations Officers, whose members enforce anti-eviction laws, said rogue landlords sometimes tried to escape council attention by throwing tenants out. “Local authorities are getting better at dealing with rogue landlords,” he said. “But landlords think the enforcement action will go away if they get rid of the tenants.”
He added: “The police need to be aware of the basics. It is a criminal offence to make your tenant leave unlawfully, be that through harassment or changing locks.”
Research by Shelter, the housing charity, suggests that in 2019 almost 50,000 renters had their belongings thrown out of their home, and the locks changed by their landlords. More than 200,000 renters had been harassed by their landlord and some 600,000 had their home entered by a landlord without permission.
The Met Police has declined to comment on this article.
