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On 17th and 19th August, Simon Braun was asked on LBC Radio to clarify the position relating to tenants of social landlords who were being threatened with eviction, having taken part in the recent rioting and looting in various areas of the country. Simon pointed out that a lot of what had been said by politicians and councils was inaccurate and misleading to say the least. Evicting tenants who were involved in the rioting and looting would not be easy at all and, indeed, may not be possible. (Further explanation below)
In order to be evicted, Simon explained that the incidents would have had to have occurred in the locality of the rented premises. If they were a mile or two away, or in a different town, then possession proceedings could not be taken at all. Simon then went onto explain that even if the acts of rioting or looting were committed in the locality of the premises, then the Court would still have to decide whether or not it was reasonable to make a Possession Order. The Court would take into account all the surrounding circumstances. If the actions were those of a child of the tenant, possession proceedings would be unlikely to be granted if it was a one off act and also if there were other children living at the premises. Even if the Court were to grant a Possession Order, the Court would then have to go onto decide whether it should be an outright Possession Order or suspended. If it was suspended, it would mean that a Possession Order would be granted, but suspended for say a year, conditional upon no further breaches of the tenancy agreement taking place. Simon made clear that when one takes all this into account, in addition to any Human Rights and other Public Law defences, it is highly unlikely that anyone would be evicted for taking part in the rioting, notwithstanding what the politicians and local councils have been recently saying.
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