Passport taken by landlord?

bostonianinmo

Call the police immediately. Your landlord has stolen your passport. This is a VERY SERIOUS offence on his part! Assuming that he entered your residence to steal the passport, he has also comitted a crimminal trespass and burgled your residence. A landlord does NOT have the right to enter your home for this purpose!

Your landlord's remedy for the unpaid rent is to file eviction proceedings against you and file suit for the unpaid rents. He has no legal position to confiscate your posessions, especially without action by the courts.

As to what you can do about the unpaid rents, contact your local CAB for assistance. But do call the police immediately. If it's a British passport, you should also report the theft to the Home Office. If it's not a British passport, you should report the theft to your embassy or cousular office.

Munster

Further to all the good answers, you are required to report lost or stolen passports to your own embassy immediately.

Have him arrested.

hherty1

I would contact the police and report it as a Idenity theft. He has no leagal right to take your passport even if you are behind in you rent. I really would call the authorities

robert c

Most answers are correct go to the police NOW THIS MINUTE.

Oracle

Report him to the police for theft.

I asume the passport is not a British one. Inform your embassy.

karae416

I would get a job somewhere where they won't look at your passport. And ask him to give it back and tell him of the sevearl years he would spend behind bars and lossing his sources of imcome.

Glyco

I can say you have been caught between a hard surface and a rock. What you and your landlord need to know it is illegal in the UK for anyone to withhold personal document other than collaterals as guarantee of payment. You NEED your passport back. Besides if you do not have the original how does he expect you to get a job and eventually pay him? How can you skip the country without a penny in your pocket? By walking or swimming maybe? Let him know he is being unreasonable. I believe you have some variables in the house you can give him as collateral if he so insists.

Pablo

Your landlord is a thief. He took your personal property and you should advice him to return it to you so you can find work, plus you will make a police report about it. Be prepared to do it.

Ah!

Oh My Giddy Aunt!!!

Go to the Police, then go to CAB to get advice to stop him evicting you. He cant evict you (wont stop him trying tho!) and you need advice to stop this happening.
You should be entitled to some form of benefit if you're not working/ cant work. (unless you are not supposed to be here??) CAB will also help you with this.

Lick_My_Toad

It is illegal for him to take your passport off you. If he won't give it back, go to the Police.

malcy

Iis stated in the passport this document is the property of the Government and is not to be taken by any other than an authorised person. Your landlord is committing a serious offence (ie prisonable) and should be reported to the police as he can use this passport for all kinds of illegal purposes. You can also report thiss to the passport office they may replace it. This will not ber free but you can perhaps chrge your landlord for the amount (if he's still free).

The Drunken Fool

Your passport is property of your government and is not his to take. Call the police if he wont give it back. It wont stop him evicting you though.

bert

It is illegal for any one to hold your passport, go to the police immediately

candi k

are you a pillock? why did you let him do that?
it takes months to evict someone get advice, why cant you claim disability allowance then claim housing benefit call the police to get your passport back, go and claim benefits.

scatz

Have you tried asking for a hardship loan/grant from your local benefits service? I'm sure they may be able to assist. Were you not entitled to claim statutory sick pay for the time you were not able to work?

As for your landlord, as the above have stated, he has no legal right to do anything but give you fair notice to vacate the premises. Have you ever fallen behind with the rent before? If not, I wonder why he is acting in this way!

You may want to contact your local citizens advce beraux (I am assuming you are in the UK) about what your landlord can actually do due to the nature of your shortness of funds.

Good luck

mr_shandypants

It is illegal to withold someone elses passport unless you have the proper authority to do so....HE HASNT.

adozenredroses12

Oh my god! He can't take your passport. No matter how much you owe him he still has no right! It's only Â£420.00 and you had a good reason. I sympathise with you. The only suggestion I can make is for you to call the police and explain the situation to them just like you did to us and they should sort it out. Hope you get your passport back, I really do.

Marc

Your landlord cannot throw you out unless he serves you written notice and waits until the notice period is up, even if you don't pay. If you have an assured shorthold tenancy agreement (the most common in the UK - someone will correct me), the statutory notice is 2 months. You may have agreed a shorter notice period in the agreement, but the landlord will find he cannot enforce it. The minimum term under these agreements is 6 months. If you don't ever pay, you may eventually get a County Court Judgement against you.

If you go down the "dig your heels in" route, things could get very nasty, especially if your landlord is the sort of person to take your passport. He may be prepared do worse. I would suggest sending written notice by recorded delivery and leaving the property at the earliest opportunity. Find somewhere else to live. You could try posting another question asking for a decent landlord in your area, or use moveflat.com or gumtree.com. Of course, you must contact the police and your embassy about your passport, but don't put yourself at risk because a passport can be replaced (it will be cancelled as lost or stolen). You should say that you protested to your passport being taken and that you let it out of your possession under duress.

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