Offensive text messages.

[George38]

A female friend who is foreign has a house that she rents out. When a tenant left recently the deposit was retained in part to cover unpaid rent. The tenant was extremely irate and sent three extremely abusive text messages to my friend, the content of which was unrepeatable. Suffice to say they attacked her nationality, her parentage and her sexuality to name a few!
Is it a prosecutable offence to send these kind of text messages, or is it merely a private matter between sender and recipient? The content is offensive in the extreme using the vilest of language possible!!

[THECORBYLOON]

Section 43 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 says

[Buenchico]

See the provisions of Malicious Communications Act 1988:
http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegT ype=All+Legislation&title=malicious+&Year=1988 &searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPowe r=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&Pag eNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1346 417&ActiveTextDocId=1346417&filesize=14135

Chris

[THECORBYLOON]

(Bit quick off the mark there)

it says
(1) A person who �
(a) sends, by means of a public telecommunication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or
(b) sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public telecommunication system,

[George38]

Thank you for a very prompt response corbyloon and buenchico, it's a relief to know that she doesn't have to put up with that kind of thing! From your answers it would seem that, in the circumstances, the sender of the messages would be most unwise to push the issue of the retained deposit!!

[Barmaid]

More importantly, your friend should keep the text messages and take them down the local police station. As their is a racial element, they will take it very seriously.

[Barmaid]

their?!! THEIR?!! Sorry, too much grape juice. I meant "there".

[George38]

Thanks barmaid, I knew what you meant!!! :o)

[lawsanass]

Be careful tho......i think its illegal to keep a deposit for payment towards unpaid rent. A deposit should be held in a holding account and only used for damage etc. Possibly good idea to google it. If ex tenant gets nasty as a result of your freind reporting tx messages she could be in worse trouble for keeping deposit cheque for rent payment

[George38]

I thought of that lawsanass, but the tenancy was commenced about a year before the new regulations were introduced.

[Twenty20]

Sorry, that's not quite true. Most ASTs will allow the deposit to be used for unpaid rent whether it's held in a scheme or not.