A tenant’s human rights can stop an eviction, rules a court

14:13 PM, 3rd December 2010, About 14 years ago 3

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Private landlords may have to bear in mind their tenant’s human rights before they can evict them, according to the latest court ruling.

Lawyers are likely to thrash out the implications of the case that could undermine a landlord’s ability to repossess a property in the New Year.

Another case is in the pipeline to hit the courts after Christmas.

The suggestion from the latest ruling is landlords will have to show the court that they have considered matters like a tenant’s mental and physical disabilities, frailty and likelihood of being rehoused before pressing ahead with an eviction.

The ruling comes in the Supreme Court from Manchester City Council vs Pinnock, where the council was hoping originally for a possession order or the right to remove Mr Pinnock’s secure tenancy to a council house.

No one seems to care if landlords have rights

Although this case involves social housing, the next case concerns a housing co-operative, which is a private landlord – and the arguments from that ruling could equally apply to a buy to let landlord.

In the Manchester case, the council claimed Mr Pinnock was abusive and his neighbours complained about antisocial behaviour.

The court agreed to take away Mr Pinnock’s right to a secure tenancy, subject to his continuing good behaviour. He failed to keep to the agreement and the case returned to court where the council was granted a possession order.

Mr Pinnock took the case back to court, but his appeal was denied, so he appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court upheld the previous decision to let the council evict Mr Pinnock, providing the council consider the human rights principle of proportionality – these are factors that are personal to the tenant and could affect behaviour and prospects of finding another home.

Interestingly, the cases involve the human rights of tenants – but do not mention those of a property owner or landlord.

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Tags: Buy to let, Buy to Let Landlord, Eviction, Private Landlords, social housing, Tenant eviction

Comments

9:14 AM, 13th December 2010, About 14 years ago

this is going to be a complex one , interestingly we see a social housing network pushing to manage propertys as the private landlords and trying to evict those who they have been representing for many years and gaining benifits for, the question here is when the property was rented to him ,when did the problems start ,were the problems already their, who was paying his rent , if it is actually an illness or is the person just clever enough to play the system and who is paying for the case, it seems that this case is looking to prove that the cliant has mental issues if that is the case then their will be records to the fact if it is new then medication will calm him down and his behavior may improve these will be long winded to prove and even if you prove it as a social housing network where these houseing associations receive government backing they may have a hard time evicting the tenant in any case although a lot of housing ass and networks are increasingly trying to run their propertys in a more proffesional maner even to the point of abuseing the leaseholders of such propertys with charges that generaly did not exsit in years gone by, i dont see how this should effect private properties where refrancing is becoming more and more important to ensure that this becomes difficult to happen ,although anybody could become mentle and loose it in this day and age, either way if the tenant has mentle problems this will be an issue for the government and nhs and eventually he will transfered to a different regime i suspect, as a private landlord i am sick to the hind teeth with all this beuroucratic nonsense there are to many people making decisions on behalf of good landlords who havn't got a clue that includes the government.

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9:23 AM, 13th December 2010, About 14 years ago

this is going to be a complex one , interestingly we see a social housing network pushing to manage propertys as the private landlords and trying to evict those who they have been representing for many years and gaining benifits for, the question here is when the property was rented to him ,when did the problems start ,were the problems already there, who was paying his rent , if it is actually an illness or is the person just clever enough to play the system and who is paying for the case, it seems that this case is looking to prove that the client has mental issues if that is the case then there will be records to the fact if it is new then medication will calm him down and his behavior may improve these will be long winded to prove, even if you prove it, as a social housing network where these housing associations receive government backing they may have a hard time evicting the tenant in any case although a lot of housing ass and networks are increasingly trying to run their propertys in a more proffesional maner even to the point of abuseing the leaseholders of such propertys with charges that generaly did not exsit in years gone by, i don't see how this should effect private properties where refrancing is becoming more and more important to ensure that this becomes difficult to happen ,although anybody could become mentle and loose it in this day and age, either way if the tenant has mentle problems this will be an issue for the government and nhs and eventually he will transfered to a different regime i suspect, as a private landlord i am sick to the hind teeth with all this beuroucratic nonsense there are to many people making decisions on behalf of good landlords who havn't got a clue that includes the government.

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9:26 AM, 13th December 2010, About 14 years ago

this is going to be a complex one , interestingly we see a social housing network pushing to manage propertys as the private landlords and trying to evict those who they have been representing for many years and gaining benefits for, the question here is when the property was rented to him ,when did the problems start ,were the problems already there, who was paying his rent , if it is actually an illness or is the person just clever enough to play the system and who is paying for the case, it seems that this case is looking to prove that the client has mental issues if that is the case then there will be records to the fact if it is new then medication will calm him down and his behavior may improve these will be long winded to prove, even if you prove it, as a social housing network where these housing associations receive government backing they may have a hard time evicting the tenant in any case although a lot of housing ass and networks are increasingly trying to run their propertys in a more proffesional maner even to the point of abuseing the leaseholders of such propertys with charges that generaly did not exsit in years gone by, i don't see how this should effect private properties where referencing is becoming more and more important to ensure that this becomes difficult to happen ,although anybody could become mentle and loose it in this day and age, either way if the tenant has mentle problems this will be an issue for the government and nhs and eventually he will transfered to a different regime i suspect, as a private landlord i am sick to the hind teeth with all this beuroucratic nonsense there are to many people making decisions on behalf of good landlords who havn't got a clue that includes the government.

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