Unlawful eviction and quiet enjoyment

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
Produced in partnership with Laura Tweedy of Gatehouse Chambers and Jill Morgan
Practice notes

Unlawful eviction and quiet enjoyment

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Laura Tweedy of Gatehouse Chambers and Jill Morgan

Practice notes
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This Practice Note explains what unlawful eviction is, how and when it may arise from a civil perspective, the civil remedies available and potential consequential causes of action.

Unlawful eviction

Unlawful eviction (or illegal eviction) is defined in the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 (PEA 1977) and is a criminal offence. An action for unlawful eviction arises when a landlord or another person deprives, or attempts to deprive, a residential occupier of their occupation of a property without using the legally prescribed means to do so.

A ‘residential occupier’ is defined as:

‘…a person occupying the premises as a residence, whether under a contract or by virtue of any enactment or rule of law giving him the right to remain in occupation or restricting the right of any other person to recover possession of the premises.’

This definition applies to tenants and licensees.

Has the occupier’s right to occupy the land been terminated?

For most occupiers of land (including tenants and licensees), specific legal procedures are required to bring their

Laura Tweedy
Laura Tweedy

Barrister, Gatehouse Chambers

Laura specialises in all aspects of social housing including homelessness and anti-social behaviour; as well as property law including (residential and commercial), landlord and tenant (residential and business) and public law.

Prior to coming to the bar Laura tutored at Durham University in European Law and she continues to regularly lecture and advise.

She works with Arrival Education to support achievement and development for underprivileged children.

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Jill Morgan
Jill Morgan

Content writer, Copywriter and Chartered Legal Executive

Jill Morgan is a Chartered Legal Executive and the founder of Clear and Credible Ltd, a content writing and copywriting business, specialising in law, local government and social welfare.
 
Jill has specialised in housing law for a number of years, particularly homelessness and possession proceedings. She has a keen interest in social welfare law and associated issues and has contributed to a number of published texts.
 
Jill’s practice extends across all aspects of local government law, including governance, planning, licensing, environmental health, property, housing and commercial contract. In her role as Deputy Monitoring Officer, she was heavily involved in governance arrangements and standards matters. Jill managed the local authority’s licensing team for a number of years and has a wealth of experience in advising at committees, sub-committees and contested hearings.

In addition to contributing to the legal practice notes below, Jill has prepared numerous court digests and summaries of judicial decisions across various practice areas.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Licensee definition
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An organisation to which a nuclear site licence has been granted.

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