Met officers to be told to arrest landlords who try to illegally evict tenants

Exclusive: Guidance says police should presume evictions they are called to are likely to be unlawful after concerns about bias

Police in London are to be told to start arresting landlords who illegally and sometimes violently evict tenants after mounting concern about officers showing bias and enabling some unlawful evictions.

After a 41% annual rise in legitimate no-fault" evictions involving court-appointed bailiffs, frontline officers will be issued with updated guidance telling them to presume any eviction they are called to is likely to be illegal and that the tenant should remain in the home. They will also be explicitly told that landlords using or threatening violence to enter an occupied home are committing a crime.