UK Landlord Forum / Life

i am renting a room in a flat in England. there has been a complaint about someone smoking marijuana in my building. i have told my agent that it is not coming from our property, but he clearly thinks im not telling the truth. he has now said that hes obliged to contact my student union, as part of the mental health charter. for obvious reasons, i don't want my uni to think that i'm a pot head. he has no reason to think its me, or even to think its anyone in my flat, so surely he is committing slander against me if he does this. Also, is my name and student number not protected under personal data. is he also violating my personal data rights if he provides the uni with them?

i have looked around, and cant find anything that says an agent has the right to do this, so i would like t know if hes breaking the law if he does. if he proceeds anyway, what action can i take against him?

thanks for the help

Basics of UK law -- everything is permitted unless it's forbidden.  In other words, if there isn't a law against it, he can do it.

Slander is telling a lie about someone.  Slander is an ethical concept, not a legal one.  The legal concept is defamatory libel, which happens when you publish a lie about someone.  It's a civil offence, not a criminal one.

If he writes to your student union or your university and says: "I suspect that marijuana is being smoked in this building," then you'd have a devil of a job proving defamatory libel.  His defence would be that he does suspect that.

Am I right in thinking that you are not studying English ?

Quote from: Mortimer on November 12, 2019, 01:52:27 PM
Basics of UK law -- everything is permitted unless it's forbidden.  In other words, if there isn't a law against it, he can do it.

Slander is telling a lie about someone.  Slander is an ethical concept, not a legal one.  The legal concept is defamatory libel, which happens when you publish a lie about someone.  It's a civil offence, not a criminal one.

If he writes to your student union or your university and says: "I suspect that marijuana is being smoked in this building," then you'd have a devil of a job proving defamatory libel.  His defence would be that he does suspect that.

I see a lot of people on this forum are prepared to give 'legal advice' which is completely incorrect. If you are a lawyer, I'd be careful, as you could be reported to SRA or Bar Standards Board for doing so. And if you aren't, then please refrain from giving people wrong advice.

There is no such thing as 'defamatory libel' under English common law and slander is indeed a form of defamation (verbal) and libel (written).

So, if his landlord indeed contacts his University and gives information to them that is not factual and can damage his reputation, there is a good case and cause for defamation proceedings. Now, in regards to data protection, he cannot, indeed, dispose of the student's data without written or oral consent, as new GDPR laws prohibit anyone from doing so.