Nicholas Dobson considers proportionality surrounding eviction from private lettings
- A court in possession proceedings brought by a private sector landlord is not required to consider the proportionality of evicting the occupier.
The role of proportionality in public sector housing possessions was effectively settled by the Supreme Court in November 2010. For in Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45, [2011] 1 All ER 285, Lord Neuberger, giving judgment for a nine judge court, had said (concerning Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)—right to respect for private and family life): “[I]f our law is to be compatible with Article 8, where a court is asked to make an order for possession of a person’s home at the suit of a local authority, the court must have the power to assess the proportionality of making the order, and, in making that assessment, to resolve any relevant dispute of fact.”
However, the Supreme Court did then point out that unencumbered property rights “are of real weight when it comes to proportionality”. So: “[I]n virtually every case where a residential occupier has no contractual
