My Landlord Threatened Me – What Can I Do?

My Landlord Threatened Me - What Can I Do?

I’ve been left thoroughly amused.

Now, you may think being threatened isn’t a laughing matter, and Normally I’d agree with you, but I’ve just read a tale of a blubbering idiot that’s hilarious.

I’ve read a few different reports covering the same story, and they’ve all been written with the same dull edge, with complete disregard to the comic value. Either my sense of humour is totally off the mark (unlikely) or those reporters are just straight up ‘booshy’ (Urban Dictionary ‘word of the day’). So I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands…

Landlord threatens tenant

Mark Fortune, 42, a very successfully landlord in Edinburgh, lost his temper after his tenants fixed a broken lock and a shower, and then asked him to pay the £160 repair bill.

Mark’s natural instinct lead him to shout and swear, threatening to ‘kick’ one of the tenants. Not punch, but kick.

He then heightened the level of his threat by saying, “You go and find out who my friends are, OK? Three of them have just been locked up for shooting ‘somebody’.”

Yes, this is coming from, allegedly, a 42 year old man.

How strange. You’re all thinking what I’m thinking, right? Exactly how stupid are his friends? Surely only one of them needed to shoot, why three?

Anyways, I digress, I’m no hitman.

I’m not disputing Mark’s incentive for getting aggravated. I can definitely see where he’s coming from. However, let’s be adults.

Regardless, I thought the landlord’s antics were amusing. Perhaps the take-away from this story is to keep cool, refrain from taking the law into your own hands and acting like a premature asshole (no matter how frustrating times get).

As a result of Mark’s actions, he was taken to a small claims court, where justice was served. He was fined £650 for disturbing the peace, making threats, and deceitfully impersonating a baby.

How to report a threatening landlord

Being threatened by your landlord is no different than being threatened by a random Joe. There is no special routes or governing bodies for tenants to go through. If your landlord is making genuine threats to the safety of your well-being, you should file a complaint with the police.

If you want to take matters further, you can take it to a small claims court. For free legal advice, I would talk to Citizens Advice.

Tenant’s Right To Live In Quiet Enjoyment

I’d just like to also mention that tenants have a legal right to live in quiet enjoyment. That means landlords are NOT allowed to harass their tenants.

Out of curiosity, has anyone here been threatened before, either by tenant or landlord? Tell me your story. If there’s no reason to laugh, I won’t, I promise…

13 Join the Conversation...

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Smithy 22nd September, 2011 @ 19:28

Well if his friends have been locked up - by which I assume he means they are in prison, rather than stuck inside a house because they have mislaid their front door keys - then they are not going to be much of a threat to the tenants.

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YesAdam 23rd September, 2011 @ 11:24

The landlord has lost his mind - threatening wont do much and his "mates" wont shoot someone over a measly £160 repair bill.

Landlords should remember this is a business and sometimes people dispute payments - This is where agents come in handy over disputes as it does not effect them significantly so can deal with it without "rage".

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spencer 30th October, 2011 @ 22:43

my tenant from hell has been harrassing me, he called the police on me over xxxx amount of times that i lost count with false allegations that the landlord is harrassing him, i am sorry to say but the DSS tenants are bad news, think they are untouchables and special with tooo many rights. These people are a nightmare. Beware !!

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shikira 28th May, 2012 @ 18:44

Only the wife who was his consort, yet I had written a huge cheque that she refused to accept?! - she wanted cash, so I gave her it, or at least £400 of it. Seemingly, the landlord did not get this and rather than be amused by his blatant threats that he was going to take me to court, I threatened him back and told him that he could do whatever. I had her signature on my notepaper so what was he wanting to do to me?

I tried to arrange a private meeting with him after he left to talk about the situation (he believed was just do with tenant issues) after I left. He failed to turn up and discuss anything, so this confirmed to me that his wife and he tried to squander out of me more than what they could bargain out of me.

Tenants who refuse to pay their rent and threaten legal action are completely insane and need to be challenged at every level unless they are ill.

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Aditya Kumar 29th July, 2013 @ 15:42

My Landlord has threatened me once in similar way. He had in fact been physical with me and when i said that i will call police he said that he would cut his own hand (with a small paper knife he took out of his pocket) and put the blame on me. However, i feel he was little nervous when i said that i would call police. Later he calmed down, apologized to me and told me his story that he is short tempered and bellicose because his father was a Gangster and he and his father used to go into peoples house and used to punch people in their houses (i feel he was trying to scare me by saying so). I contacted CAB later and they advised me to report to police if such incidence is repeated.

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Aditya Kumar 29th July, 2013 @ 15:47

When i say that my Landlord got physical with me, it doesn't mean that i replied him back. My Landlord pushed me and i did not engaged back in any physical confrontation. I was new to UK then, just 15 days old and didn't want to get into such ugly things as i was unaware of the consequences.

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loso 24th November, 2013 @ 01:33

My landlord/auntie pulled a knife out on me bcuz I exposed that she has been stealing my granny money 4 years!!!!..so she went up on our rent twice and is making me and my child a hostile enviroment 2 live in...We dont hve a written lease hvnt had1 in 10yrs...I feel iys inssfe 4 me &y child 2 live there however im not paying ne rrnt bcuz I need money 4 a new place legally can she put us out??#ineedadvise

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equaliser 1st February, 2014 @ 01:30

Still waiting on my visit from cardboard gangsta marky boy quote "I know where you live" perhaps he knows something is not quite right of lately little things he hears/sees/smells/6th sence eye watching !! No way, quote "do u know who my friends are" no I dont but would love to play the mutual connections game after 6 months of very subtle looking there's been laughter through the central belt as real world gentlemen/category E people are aware and not really keen to have a soul move forward and return with nothing less than the smell of undecidable Horror, anytime the game deems it time to deal with minions and used as morals for educational purposes only

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Vanessa Roffey 9th September, 2014 @ 15:34

An ex landlord is threatening to sue over unpaid rent. I left the property over 6 years ago! Is this legal?

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Aud 17th February, 2019 @ 00:00

Im waiting to see a judge.... my landlord told me i wouldnt live long enough to see a judge.

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Jaz 23rd March, 2020 @ 09:48

My current landlord is threatening me about contacting my new Letting agent informing me being in rent arrears by £200. What to do next?

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Michael kostner 29th September, 2020 @ 20:55

If you know mark fortune and want to report it fill up this questionnaire that some people are collecting to get this landlord arrested
This is the Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/markfortuneinvestigation/

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Lyndi johnson 14th June, 2021 @ 15:21

ither that or I ended up with mr stupid as a apparent landlord, I shouldn’t be on here iv got a case to get ready for but hey someone may have a useful slice of info so here goes the idiot thats my apparent landlord did this
1/ didn’t own the property on contract date 2/ did no pat tests 3/ no electric on moving in 4/no cleaning of property ( i did that )
5/ found rats were in situ month 3 6/toilet flushed over floor 7/ sink hanging on by strong as nails 8/3 out of 4 doors didn’t close
9/said he would pay for cleaning & garden over haul ( by text )10/ when i pointed out the property had all this he came round with a builder who said the thousand of flies were due to cluster flies not dead anything 11/ broke agreement to have rent reduced for repairs cleaning & buying equipment & help 12/ then changed his mind to pay up full rent 13 then started to threaten me when i went to get advise from local authority 14/ then removed my self employment tools caravan parts camping stuff & deceased sisters contents from garage 15/ then went on to incite neighbours to verbalise at me or threaten me
16/ then takes me to court for non payment of rent = i get to go into court on my own to provide my suck all f**k you case & he can’t do nothing he can’t threaten me in court & now I’m going to get an order to stop him coming near me & sue him for 2 type injuries whilst on his property after his walls fell over & i fell off his crap ladder & a possible compensation for sweeping up asbestos whilst also getting him to have to pay for a car cause i can not use my left foot in my manual ! Votes anyone lol

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