A charity is reportedly accusing that are ever increasing numbers of landlords ‘employing’ security guards dressed up as bailiffs to evict tenants, according to a piece written in The Guardian.

The charity raising the accusation, Safer Renting, operates in seven London boroughs and states this tactic is being used by those it labels as “criminal landlords.”

The newspaper quotes Safer Renting spokesperson Ben Reeve-Lewis: “We’ve seen a spate of cases this year where landlords have used uniformed security guards to give the impression of a court-sanctioned eviction. In the past, criminal landlords may have sent heavies to throw tenants out, but this is the first time in 33 years of working in the private-rented sector that I’ve seen fake bailiffs kitted out with stab vests, radios and handcuffs. Some of them even have vans with police-like livery on the side.”

When talking about families who have recently been evicted in east London, Reeve-Lewis said: “The families are in temporary accommodation now but the woman is having trouble getting her son to his special school as she is further away. We’re taking legal action to get them back in. These kinds of cases shock the general public, but we see it all the time.”

He also cited another case study of an unnamed family, where the landlord has allegedly hired a property enforcement company to evict a parent with five children, and said: “The guards, who arrived in a van with police-like Battenburg markings, tried to force their way in while she was working, claiming the family was trespassing. They only left when Safer Renting intervened.”