Tenant removed carpets from house in rent row

Jeanette Bicknell, 25, of Fenwick Street, admitted taking the carpets, valued at £800, from an address on Carter Lane, Warsop Vale, on August 11 last year.

The court heard she was a tenant at the property with her partner and two children, between September 2014 and August 2015, and paid £450 rent a month.

Prosecuting, Neal Hollett said Bicknell had run up eight weeks of rent arrears and had been served with a notice of eviction,

He said: “This led to a falling out with the landlord because she claims she was owed a two-month advance payment.”

The carpets had been transferred to her new address, the court heard, and the old house was left ‘in a poor state.’

Zahra Hussain, mitigating, said: “It’s clear that this is a dispute between a landlord and a tenant.

“When she was going to leave she was told she would get the two advance payments back.”

The court heard Bicknell, who suffers from epilepsy and has learning difficulties, later realised what she had done was wrong.

“This is out of character behaviour,” said Miss Hussain.

The court heard that the carpets, recovered by police, had not been cut and could be re-fitted.

Mansfield magistrates gave her a six month conditional discharge and ordered her to pay costs of £85 and compensation to the landlord of £400.