Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in United Kingdom

Hi, I'm enquiring on behalf of my father.

He rents a workshop/lockup from a landlord in Harrogate, where he stores all his work tools, equipment, materials, as well as a lot of personal items and items belonging to his wife (my mother), to me, some other family members and a couple of items for friends. He is approximately 4 months late with the rent (which is �260 per month).

Without notice, the landlord has broken into the lockup and completely emptied it, taking possession of all items in it and refusing to give them back until my father pays his arrears.

We have asked the landlord to provide a documented list of exactly what he has seized but he can't provide this because he did not list the items when he took this action. We are therefore worried that there maybe items broken and missing as he also refuses to give us access to where he is keeping them for us to inspect.

As I originally stated, the landlord has seized everything including all his tools he requires for working and earning a living and did this without any notice. He still has not provided us with a figure of the exact arrears either (the landlord believes it is probably either 4 or 5 months but didn't know exactly). I also asked whether he had obtained a court order to enter the premises and again he has given no answer (but I assume he hasn't as no court notice has been received by my father) and I think this may be required because the rental agreement was signed in my father's personal name, rather than a business name, but do accept and are happy to assume it was a business agreement rather than personal if this is still the case.

I would like to know where my father stands and what he should do next. Are the landlord's actions criminal or civil or in fact is he entitled to do what he has? My apologies for writing this on his behalf, but for the past 9 - 12 months, he has been dealing with my mother's cancer diagnosis, which is the reason he fell into arrears in the first place, with not carrying out as much work over this period.

Many thanks in anticipation of some advice.

Alan

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