Judges to feel ‘extremely uneasy’ over family evictions, warns QC

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

Judges will sit “uneasy” when invited by councils to evict the families of tenants convicted of rioting, the former director of public prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald QC has said.

Wandsworth Council became the first authority to hand out an eviction notice to a tenant - whose son appeared in court charged in connection with disturbances in Clapham Junction earlier this month.

The Government has backed councils and social landlords seeking the eviction of tenants caught up in the riots and is also looking to strip the benefits of those found guilty. It’s also consulting on plans to allow landlords to evict tenants who cause anti-social behaviour away from their home. Currently they can only take action if their behaviour is within the ‘locality’ of their home.

Commenting on the council evictions, Lord Macdonald told the BBC's Today programme: “It makes a good sound bite but quite how it works to have former rioters bereft of any income and homeless roaming the streets with their families, also rendered homeless, unable to afford housing in the private market because they have no benefits, I’m not quite sure. How that would help us to improve social harmony and avoid street disorder in the future I’m not sure.”

He added: “I imagine a judge faced with an entirely innocent family of a young rioter and being invited by the local authority to evict those people from their home is going to feel extremely uneasy about that indeed. Where are they going to live. The judges will want to come to their own conclusions about what is fair and reasonable and what is unfair and unreasonable.”

Wandsworth’s eviction notice has been condemned by some housing bodies and charities.

Stephen Bubb, the chief executive of ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations), said it was for the “criminal justice system to punish crime. Not Wandsworth Council”.

He said he was pleased that many of ACEVO’s charitable housing association members have “resisted this simplistic eviction approach”.

Harrow council said eviction is “not always the best remedy”.
 
Maggie Challoner, Resident Services Manager, Harrow Council said: “We have a responsibility to protect other members of the community by effectively tackling anti-social behaviour and other breaches of tenancy, but we also have a responsibility to help sustain tenancies and support more vulnerable members of the community.”

Wandsworth Council leader Ravi Govindia has defended the move. He said: "Having the long-term security of a council flat or house is a privileged position that, as the waiting lists show, many people aspire to. And with that privilege must come a sense of responsibility to your neighbour and your neighbourhood.

"From the very outset it is made clear to tenants that if they, or members of their household, break the rules they run the real risk of eviction - of having their privileged status stripped from them.

"It is nonsense to suggest that if an eviction order is granted the family will end up on the streets. They will simply have to do what millions of other people, often on low incomes, already do: find accommodation in the private rental market. If they are on housing benefit they will continue to receive it and it will go to any landlord willing to rent them accommodation."