Contract trap · Lease
Self-help eviction/lockout
On arrears or 'breach' the landlord may change locks, restrict access, cut utilities, 're-enter' and 'determine' the tenancy without court, deem the property abandoned after N days' absence, or remove, hold, sell or dispose of the tenant's belongings as security.
- Severity
- Severe
- How often it turns up
- Regular
- Holds up?
- Often void
- Clause phrases
- 22
What it looks like in a contract
Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.
In English-language contracts
- change the locks
- lockout
- remove tenant's belongings
- deemed abandoned
- dispose of or sell
- landlord may re-enter
- the tenancy shall absolutely determine
- shut off utilities
- lien on tenant's personal property
- without court order
- distress for rent
- left unoccupied for more than 21 days
In Russian-language contracts
- сменить замки
- ограничить доступ в помещение
- отключить электроэнергию
- удерживать имущество Нанимателя до полного погашения
- вещи считаются брошенными
- выселить без обращения в суд
- утилизировать оставленные вещи
- освободить помещение в течение 24 часов
- Наймодатель вправе войти и изъять
- прекратить доступ
Check your own contract
Paste a clause, a page or the whole document. Nothing leaves your browser: the matching runs here, on this page, against the phrases above.
Why it bites
It threatens what is a criminal act in most jurisdictions, and tenants who believe the clause leave or pay under duress; in RU it is used to hold belongings hostage for 'penalties'; the clause misstates the law and exists purely as leverage.
Is it enforceable where you are
The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.
In the US, deposit deadlines and entry notice are set state by state; in England and Wales the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the deposit protection schemes apply, and in the EU national tenancy law sits on top of Directive 93/13.
United States
Self-help eviction is illegal in essentially every state (CA Civ. 789.3 $100/day; NY RPAPL 768 misdemeanour); landlord's lien on tenant goods allowed only in a few states with strict rules (TX Prop. Code 54.041); Wisconsin ATCP 134.08 voids any clause authorising eviction other than through judicial procedures.
- Cited
- ATCP 134.08
European Union
Germany: verbotene Eigenmacht (BGB 858), eviction only via court and Gerichtsvollzieher; France: expulsion illégale is a crime (Code pénal 226-4-2) and the clause résolutoire operates only via court; 93/13 Annex 1(q) where the landlord is professional.
- Cited
- 93/13 Annex 1(q)
- BGB 858
- Code pénal 226-4-2
United Kingdom
Protection from Eviction Act 1977: unlawful eviction/harassment is a criminal offence; possession only via court order (Housing Act 1988 s.5); OFT/CMA: 're-enter and determine' and 'deemed abandoned' terms are misleading and unfair.
- Cited
- CMA
- Housing Act 1988
- Protection from Eviction Act 1977
Russia
Выселение только по решению суда (ст. 687-688 ГК); смена замков и удержание вещей — самоуправство (ст. 19.1 КоАП / ст. 330 УК) и нарушение неприкосновенности жилища (ст. 139 УК); удержание (ст. 359 ГК) к личным вещам нанимателя судами не применяется; условие ничтожно, но фактически применяется — реагировать через полицию и иск.
- Cited
- ст. 139 УК
- ст. 19.1 КоАП
- ст. 330 УК
- ст. 359 ГК
- ст. 687-688 ГК
Where this has actually happened
Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.
- OFT356 (2005) unfair examples: 'If the premises shall be left unoccupied for more than 21 days the landlord may give notice that the landlord seeks possession'; 'such belongings will be deemed abandoned and the landlord may remove, sell or dispose of these'
- Protection from Eviction Act 1977 (UK) s.1 offences
- Wisconsin ATCP 134.08: a clause authorising eviction or exclusion of the tenant other than through judicial eviction procedures is void
What to do
In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.
- Strike
- Insist possession is recovered only by court order and belongings returned or stored with notice. If it happens: do not sign anything, call the police (UK: illegal eviction
- RU: самоуправство, ст. 139 УК
- US: police plus emergency court order), photograph everything, claim damages.
Traps that travel with it
Drafters who use one of these usually use several.