An imprisoned serial rapist has been awarded compensation from his landlady after he successfully argued that she had unlawfully terminated his tenancy and removed his belongings.

Thomas Cope’s landlady, Melody Goymer, said that she had attempted to contact Cope on a number of occasions without success and believed that ‘he had done a runner’ and abandoned the property. She proceeded to empty the flat and then paid for Cope’s belonging to be put into storage. Cope was in fact on remand waiting to go on trial for rape, of which he was later found guilty and imprisoned for life.

From prison, Cope received legal aid to take action against Goymer for ending his tenancy. The Deputy District Judge found that the tenancy had been ended unlawfully and Cope was awarded £750 damages.

Elizabeth Brogan, senior policy officer for the National Landlords Association (NLA), told PIN: “Abandonment is a major headache for landlords due to the complex nature of determining whether a tenant has permanently moved out or not. The safest way for a landlord to handle the situation is to seek a possession order through the courts. They are then protected by the law but will have to give the tenant two months notice and then wait for a date to be set for a court hearing. At a time when there remains a shortage of available housing, the NLA believes it is vital that some balance is restored to enable landlords to re-let their properties quickly following abandonment.”