Birmingham council has taken a lettings agency to court and its successful prosecution the agent was judged to have illegally evicted a tenant.

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The lettings agency is based at Great Barr in Birmingham and was found guilty under Section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 for illegally evicting their tenant, Natalia Szergejev, from her rented home in Erdington in June 2019.

The agency was ordered to pay fines of £10,000 as well as a victim surcharge of £170, together with £3,084.62 prosecution costs and  £1,053.97 compensation to the ex-tenant.

Natalia started her tenancy in June 2017 and went abroad to further her studies in January 2019 fully intending to return to her flat after her course finished.

Szergejev had informed the agency of her intentions and an agreement was arranged for a joint tenant to pay the rent whilst she was abroad. However the rent for May 2019 was unpaid as the joint tenant had moved out of the property.

The agency contacted Szergejev and she duly paid the outstanding rent and corresponded with them by text and email letting them know that she intended to return to the flat very shortly.

However when she arrived at her flat in June 2019 Szergejev found she was unable to enter the property because the lock was changed.

Councillor Hussain, the council member responsible for homes, says: “The fine is an excellent result given the level of penalties in other recent similar cases.

“We hope it sends a clear signal to all private landlords about their responsibilities and that they must keep within the law.