A landlord has been ordered to pay his tenants nearly £3,000 of rent after a Tribunal said his behaviour towards the tenants was "abusive and coercive".
The case was heard at a judge-led residential property tribunal in Nottingham where the landlord, Nasir Ahmed, was told to pay his tenants £2,817.40 through a rent repayment order (RRO).
The tenants, who were students at Nottingham Trent University, made allegations that their landlord was “persistently attending the property without good cause, sometimes at unusual times late at night or early morning."
They claimed that the visits were "unconnected with attention to maintenance or repairs" and caused the tenants and other occupants "anxiety” throughout their tenancy.
The students lived in the property on Thurgarton Street, Sneinton for seven months from January 12 to July 1, 2022.
The tribunal heard that on one occasion, the landlord entered one of the tenant's rooms to demand that he leave the property.
When ordered to leave, the landlord "banged the door closed on the claimant's hand causing injury" and as the claimant left the property, the landlord made "several racist abusive remarks".
In another incident, two men, one who claimed to be the landlord's son, entered the property and "demanded" the students "leave the property within 24 hours".
The tribunal was told that these men then "became aggressive" when one of the students explained their right to remain under their tenancy agreement and police had to be called.
On the following day, the landlord brought the men back to the property and they "remained in the living room throughout the day until midnight creating an intimidating atmosphere such that the students felt unable to use the room nor the kitchen and bathroom alone".
A tenant told the tribunal that they saw the landlord "tampering with the heating boiler leading to the property not having heating or hot water".
Alongside this, the Tribunal noted that the rental property had "no fire safety equipment installed" and that there was "evidence of overcrowding" in the home.
When handing down the rent repayment order, the Judge said: "The Tribunal is satisfied that in addition to the coercive and abusive behaviour, the respondent had not complied with duties of landlord under the Licensing and Management of HMO (Additional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2007."
Commenting on the case, tenant's rights campaigner Ajay Jagota of online claims firm Veriwise said there were "strict and clear rules" that landlords had to follow when ending a tenancy, but "far too many landlords think that they do not apply to them".
He said: "Your landlord cannot treat you like this – and if they do you could be entitled to compensation or rent repayment.
"If you lack the financial or legal resources to defend your rights as a renter, organisations like Veriwise are on hand to fight your corner."
