Renters who report issues with their property to their

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

or to housing health and safety regulators risk a type of

eviction Eviction is the removal of a Tenement (law), tenant from leasehold estate, rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosure, foreclosed by a mortgagee (often ...

. While landlords are often legally required to conduct certain repairs or ensure properties to-let are within health and safety codes, a landlord might choose to evict their renters instead of addressing the issue. In the United Kingdom, revenge eviction is legal via the use of a

Section 21 notice In England and Wales, a section 21 notice, also known as a section 21 notice of possession or a section 21 eviction, is a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, that a landlord must give to their tenant to begin the process to take posses ...

so-called "no-fault eviction". In the United States, retaliatory eviction as it's known is illegal, and since '' Edwards v. Habib'' (1968) has been as a

legal defence In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat a s ...

for renters unjustly removed from their homes.

Revenge eviction in the United Kingdom

Within the United Kingdom, Revenge eviction is a term used to describe an eviction process initiated by a landlord where a tenant asks for repairs to be carried out or complains about conditions. Campaign groups such as

Shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...

have called for revenge evictions to be legislated against.

England and Wales

In England and Wales, an

assured shorthold tenancy The assured shorthold tenancy (AST) is the default legal category of residential tenancy in England and Wales. It is a form of assured tenancy with limited security of tenure, which was introduced by the Housing Act 1988 and saw an important d ...

is the default legal category for residential tenancies. This allows a

section 21 notice In England and Wales, a section 21 notice, also known as a section 21 notice of possession or a section 21 eviction, is a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, that a landlord must give to their tenant to begin the process to take posses ...

eviction, which does not require the landlord to have any reason for evicting tenants after a fixed-term tenancy ends or during a tenancy with no fixed end date. This allows landlords to evict or threaten tenants that complain without needing to give an explanation. The

Deregulation Act 2015 The Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20) is an act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. One notable piece of legislation that was introduced is aimed at countering retaliatory evictions (e.g. following a complaint by a tenant to ...

introduced some curbs on when a

of possession may be served upon a tenant following a complaint of disrepair. However, data released by a

Freedom of Information request Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatis ...

by Generation Rent, suggests that very few tenants are protected from revenge evictions after making complaints about their housing quality. A 2015

Citizens Advice Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...

study on section 21 evictions found that tenants evicted using this process were twice as likely to have complained to their landlord, and six times as likely to have complained about their landlord to a local authority. Several groups, including Generation Rent,

, and the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local government in England, local authorities in England and Wales. Its core membership is made up of 317 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the ...

, have called on the government to scrap section 21 for this reason.

Retaliatory eviction in the United States

In American

landlord–tenant law Landlord–tenant law is the field of law that deals with the rights and duties of landlords and tenants. In common law legal systems such as Irish law, landlord–tenant law includes elements of the common law of real property and contract. ...

, a retaliatory eviction often refers to the substantive

legal defense In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat a s ...

and affirmative

cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a ...

that can be used by a tenant against a

if the tenant was evicted for reporting poor housing conditions, such as sanitary violations or violations of minimum housing standards. Retaliatory eviction first appeared as a tenant's defense against eviction in '' Edwards v. Habib'' (1968), where a tenant was evicted after reporting sanitary code violations. The D.C. Circuit recognized that the eviction was unjustified because it was in retaliation for the reporting of violations.

As a legal defense

The retaliatory eviction legal defense eviction was first recognized in the D.C. Circuit case '' Edwards v. Habib''.

West Virginia

In the case ''Imperial Colliery Co. v. Fout'', the

West Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's State court (United States), state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Char ...

reaffirmed that retaliatory eviction was a valid defense against eviction, but added the condition that the retaliation must be against a tenant's exercise of a right incidental to their tenancy. Therefore, a defense of retaliatory eviction did not exist for a tenant evicted after participating in a labor strike.

California

1942.5 is the

California Civil Code The Civil Code of California is a collection of statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of California. It was based on a civil code o ...

that establishes a renter's rights and defines a Retaliatory Eviction in the state of California.

As a cause of action

Retaliatory eviction was first recognized as a cause of action in the California case ''Aweeka v. Bonds''. The case recognized the inequity of forcing the tenant to wait until they were confronted with an

unlawful detainer Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortga ...

action to bring up retaliatory eviction as a defense.{{cite web, url=https://www.law4youth.com/%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9B%D7%A8/ , title= תביעה לפינוי מושכר Wednesday, 23 December 2020

References

External links

Respecting International Standards on Home Evictions
Housing Rights Watch Landlord–tenant law