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Neither a landlord nor a tenant be

Many tenants complain about oppressive landlords who don't give them any leeway when it comes to paying rent on time, or who insist upon arduous and restrictive house rules in the tenancy agreement. But spare a thought for the poor Telford couple who found that their landlord had rigged up a camera in order to spy on them and capture their bedroom antics.

Thomas Williams and Tracey Mullinder had been befriended by Christopher Phelan, 33, who then persuaded the couple to move into his home as rent paying tenants. When the bedroom TV went on the blink, Mr. Williams went up into the loft to check if there was anything he could fix. Image his disdain when he found not just the TV aerial, but wiring for a camera hidden in the bedroom ceiling, which had obviously been used to spy on the pair.

The landlord admitted to using the camera in court and acknowledged that he did gain "some gratification" from the footage. Would the couple have been more upset if he found that he gained no gratification whatsoever? Probably not, which was also the likelihood of the guilty landlord re-offending, according to the defence solicitor. Apparently, Mr Phelan was very ashamed of himself. District judge Philip Browning said Phelan's behaviour had been "intrusive and disturbing" and placed him on probation for two years.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the big pond, a cheeky tenant managed to get away with selling his landlord's home, after he had been evicted!

The tenant was evicted by landlord David Barnea, who returned from a holiday to find his home locked up and inaccessible. He later found out that in his absence, a couple had paid over £20,000 as a down payment on a house that the tenant didn't even own.

This stunt will cost the tenant more than the repayment of the down payment - it carries the rather serious charge of grand larceny, which will inevitably result in a lengthy prison stretch.