Revenge evictions in the last 5 years (FOI)

​​Request

Please advise how many ‘revenge evictions’ have taken place in Jersey in the last five years. 

Response

The information requested is not held. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. Please see further information below.

The Findings Report: Improving Residential Tenancies in Jersey, available in the link below, describes a ‘revenge eviction’ on page 11 as follows:

“A ‘revenge eviction’ is best understood as a landlord serving ‘no fault’ or ‘no reason’ notice on a tenant in reaction to an action taken by the tenant e.g., a tenant making a complaint about some aspect of their tenancy. This is separate to the formal eviction process, where a tenant is expelled from a property through an official court process.”

Improving Residential Tenancies in Jersey: Residential Tenancy Law Reform proposals (gov.je)

This is further explained in the response of The Minister for Housing and Communities to oral question OQ.30/2024 of 27 February 2024 which may be found on the States Assembly website in the following link:

oq.30-2024.pdf (statesassembly.gov.je)

The Petty Debts Court orders evictions under the Residential Tenancy (Jersey) Law 2011 [RT(J)L 2011] where: 

​a) the Landlord has given notice under the residential tenancy agreement to give vacant possession and the tenant has refused to leave [Article 11 RT(J)L 2011] ; or

b) the tenant is in breach of the tenancy agreement and fails to rectify the breach – usually either rent is outstanding and/or the property has been poorly treated by the tenant [Article 12 RT(J)L 2011].

Residential Tenancy (Jersey) Law 2011 (jerseylaw.je)​

The issue for the Petty Debts Court on an eviction application under Article 11 is twofold: has the Landlord has given adequate notice correctly and is the tenant refusing to leave.  Under Article 12 the Court considers whether provisions of the agreement have been breached and was proper notice given for the breach to be rectified. 

Whether there is an element of revenge associated with the Landlord giving notice to the tenant under either Article 11 or 12 is irrelevant in law; the Landlord’s motivation is therefore not interrogated.   

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.​