Could I Sue My Landlord? 🤔

The landlord came round today, as they’ve done many times lately with housemate F moving out (they’re always back and forth for a week after anybody leaves), and I happened to notice the camera notifications just after returning to my room and lying down on the bed. Firstly I was uneasy at just how close I had come to encountering them in the hallway. Secondly they were really dithering outside my window, occasionally glancing at it, so I started watching live to see what they were up to.

I watched the landlord waving at someone up the street to come over to him. Another man arrived and they both walked into the house. Suddenly I heard knocking on my door, firstly in real life then moments later through my headphones from the camera feed. Then calling through the door to be let in, in that terrifying, belligerent voice.

This was scary because this was the first time they’ve done anything like this since May when the Salvation Army team got involved and handled all communications and harassment from them, to protect me. I immediately began barricading my door despite the fact I’d previously changed the lock. Then I emailed the Salvation Army, the council and the lawyer helping me with the eviction case.

Anyway long story short the incident ended quickly, thankfully, they didn’t persist and left the house. But of course it triggered a lot of anxiety again, my door is still barricaded and I haven’t left to go outside as I’d been planning. So no daylight for me today.

So…in addition to attending the court hearing in January to defend my eviction, I am now beginning preliminary research on the options I have for sueing the landlord for harassment and emotional distress. The wealth of evidence I now have, of different types, is fairly large. I’ve asked the lawyer if he can help with it. If not I could contact another.

The second step would just be to get a lawyer’s appraisal on my chances of success based on the evidence that I have. That would be a satisfying task to accomplish!

🌪