Groundless threats of legal action by landlord held to constitute harassment of tenants

Worthington v Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a housing association against a finding of the County Court that it unlawfully harassed two of its tenants, in breach of section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA 1997).  Over a period of up to eight months, the Association had sent letters to two long-standing assured tenants of the Association threatening legal proceedings (an injunction application and/or possession proceedings) without proper basis.  Such a course of conduct was found to cross the boundary so as to be oppressive and unacceptable, and to amount to harassment under PHA 1997. 

This article by Adam Heppinstall was first published on Lexis PSL website.