Human Rights Could Stop Government’s New Social Tenancy Scheme

European human rights laws could override the Government’s proposal that new style social tenancies could be brought to an end if a tenant’s financial circumstances improve says the Residential Landlords Association (RLA). The CLG has published a consultation on its proposed reforms to social housing. The announcement signals the potential end to security of tenure in the social sector. The RLA believe that the government may not have taken account of the European Convention on Human Rights which could make it difficult to evict a tenant even though the tenant may no longer qualify for subsidised social housing. At the same time the RLA is particularly worried about how private landlords may be prevented from recovering possession once private sector assured shorthold tenancies have come to an end. This follows on from a recent case where the Supreme Court overturned the previous approach of the English Courts and brought them into line with the European Court of Human Rights judgments. This means that potentially each case where a local authority evicts has to be reviewed to see whether eviction is “proportionate”. This is because it is a “public authority”. The case concerned local authority powers to end tenancies where the tenant does not have lifetime security of tenure. Read more on the RLA website.