A client of Howells from Rotherham has been awarded damages of over £16,000.00 on account of her landlord unlawfully evicting her by changing the locks at her property and also failing to place her deposit in a designated tenancy deposit scheme.
The tenant was originally only seeking to recover the deposit of £500 from her landlord, but after taking advice was told that she had a claim for much more than this.
The landlord denied responsibility saying that they had not changed the locks and that the tenant had surrendered the keys to them.
The Judge did not accept the landlord’s explanation and made an award of aggravated and exemplary damages on top of the normal award of damages