A landlord has been ordered to repay £6,500 after threatening to throw a tenant out, bagging up her belongings
A Barnet landlord has been ordered to pay £6,500 of rent back to a former tenant after threatening to throw her out, putting her belongings in bin bags, contacting her employer without consent and allegedly providing a property with blood stains on the sofa.
A property tribunal hearing published this week (4 February 2026) details video evidence from the tenant of her interactions with landlord Ms Sheila Carpel during her tenancy at Lister Court, which ran from 8 December 2023 until 7 May 2024. In one video, the tenant told Ms Carpel not to “touch her belongings”. The next video then shows Ms Carpel telling her: “I can throw you out, I am absolutely going to throw you out.”
She then proceeded to put the tenant’s belongings into a black bin bag, where again she ‘threatened’ her by saying she was “absolutely” going to throw her out. The tenant then called the police.
The tenant also expressed a number of problems with the property when she first moved in. She claimed that the shower was leaking when she moved, the smell of curry was “stagnant” all over the house, that there were blood stains on the sofa and that the property wasn’t properly cleaned when she moved in. The landlord responded to this message by purportedly giving them one month’s notice to leave and by stating that she would have to put the rent up
The Tribunal also accepted evidence that Ms Carpel contacted the tenant’s employer and shared her personal information without her consent. This was backed up by a letter from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) stating that Ms Carpel had failed to comply with data protection obligations.
The landlord also carried out property inspections without giving the required notice, and sometimes with no notice at all, causing a “shock” to the tenant
The tenant also provided accepted evidence that the living situation was “so unbearable” she was diagnosed with gastritis caused by the stress, and that she still experiences anxiety and fear
The tenant applied for a rent repayment order (RRO) after her experience living at Lister Court. She claimed that after moving into the property in December 2023, she was served with an unlawful eviction notice.
The Tribunal found that Ms Carpel had committed an offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 by attempting to force her out of the property as well as by infringing on her right to peace and comfort. The landlord was ordered to pay a rent repayment order of £6,500. The landlord was also ordered to reimburse the tenant for the Tribunal fees she paid, which total £330.
Ms Carpel is able to appeal the decision within 28 days.
