Tomasz Gorecki had rented his home since 2010, initially at £425 a month, rising to £500 by the time he fell behind in March 2024. In February 2026, a housing tribunal ordered him to leave and to repay the arrears to his landlords, Norman Brown and Anna Bisset.

The tribunal found that no rent had been paid since September 2024, that the landlords planned to sell the property, and that the relationship between the parties had broken down.

Mr Gorecki argued the tribunal had ignored his claims of harassment and intimidation, including allegations that the landlords shouted through his window, kicked his door, attempted an illegal eviction and cut off his gas. He said he had been repeatedly interrupted and prevented from presenting his case.

Sheriff George Jamieson disagreed. The tribunal had noted his claims but found them vague and unsupported by evidence, and the key facts were not in dispute: the tenancy had been properly ended and the arrears were admitted. The tribunal was entitled to decide the case without a separate hearing on the harassment claims.

Mr Gorecki also argued the landlords should not have been allowed to bring the case because an earlier attempt in Livingston Sheriff Court had been dismissed. The Upper Tribunal said that case was thrown out only because it was brought in the wrong place, so the landlords were free to start again in the right one.

A third argument, that one landlord’s alleged failure to register meant no rent was owed, was also rejected. Even if she was unregistered, that would not cancel his duty to pay rent. His claim that the tribunal was biased was dismissed too.

The Upper Tribunal did raise one concern, about whether the tribunal had been right to say that enforcement of the orders could not be paused while an appeal request was being considered. Sheriff Jamieson said there “may well be an arguable point of law” there, but it was now academic, because permission to appeal was refused and Mr Gorecki had not asked the Upper Tribunal itself to pause enforcement.

The decision cannot be appealed, though Mr Gorecki can ask within 14 days for it to be reconsidered at a hearing. The landlords were represented by Harper MacLeod LLP.

A full case report has been publish in Scottish Legal News.