More often than not, Landlords make one of the most potentially expensive mistakes when it comes to evicting a tenant who refuses and/or neglects to vacate the property despite breach on the tenant’s part. They resort to self-help eviction and omit to cancel the lease agreement altogether.
One believes well, it’s my property therefore, I should be able to lock it up, remove the tenant’s belongs, cut utilities or use other intimidating endeavours to force the tenant to vacate the property. Wrong! By leasing property to a tenant, a landlord essentially gives the tenant rights in such property and of course obligations. However, despite the obligations, the law does not allow a landlord to remove a tenant forcefully or arbitrarily from the property. The rights bestowed on a tenant can only be legally extinguished through filing an Application for eviction with the Courts and obtaining a proper Court Order. A landlord must cancel or withdraw any right or consent given to the tenant or occupier before commencing with the eviction.
A person may be evicted from a property if s/he is considered to be an unlawful occupier. This includes a person staying on the property without the consent of the landlord, in this case a properly cancelled lease and/or a squatter. When the lease agreement expires or is cancelled by the landlord, as a result of the tenant’s breach (such as not paying rent, damaging the property etc), the tenant will be considered to be an unlawful occupier. The only legal way to remove such a person from your property is by approaching Court for an Eviction Order.
Self-help eviction is illegal and could expose you to civil liability by the tenant.