Nottingham students receive £3,000 rent refund from their ‘coercive and abusive’ landlord

The landlord would persistently pay unwarranted visits to the property


A student landlord has been ordered to pay almost £3,000 of rent back to two Nottingham Trent University students.

This repayment comes after a tribunal opened to investigate the inappropriate behaviour by landlord, which was ruled as “abusive and coercive”, and left the students feeling unable to use the bathroom.

Two Trent students Ebenezer Hagan and Farhan Bashir were living at the property on Thurgarton Street, Sneinton, from January to July 2022, Nottinghamshire Live reports.

The tribunal ruled that there was “no reasonable excuse” for the landlord’s “intimidating atmosphere”.

Both Ebenezer and Farhan complained of “persistent” visits to the property by the landlord, “without good cause, sometimes late at night or early morning”.

On one instance, the landlord entered one of the bedrooms, demanding the student to vacate the property, making “several racist abusive remarks” and “banged the door closed on the claimant’s head causing injury”.

The tribunal heard that in a further incident, two men arrived at the property and “demanded the applicant leave the property within 24 hours” and “became aggressive” when one tenant stated their right to remain. The students called the police and the two men vacated the property.

One tenant also said they had seen the landlord “tampering with the heating boiler leading to the property not having heating or hot water”, the tribunal heard.

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Tenants rights campaigner Ajay Jagota said: “There are strict and clear rules landlords must follow when ending a tenancy, but like so many of their legal obligations – not least those relating to fire and electrical safety – far too many landlords think that they do not apply to them.”

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