Are tolerated trespassers about to get back their homes? Francis Davey reports
As those involved in social housing will know, many former council tenants are, or risk becoming, “tolerated trespassers”— a highly unsatisfactory legal status created by the House of Lords in Burrows v Brent London Borough Council [1996] 4 All ER 577, [1996] 1 WLR 1448. The problem stems from the fact that once an order for possession takes effect, the tenancy ends and the former tenant will be a trespasser in their home. Particularly in the context of social housing, such “tenants” may be permitted to remain—either by order of the court or by the forbearance of their landlord—for considerable periods of time after that; in some cases many years.
The consequences for a tolerated trespasser are serious. They have no right to bring a claim for disrepair (or any other breach of covenant) against their landlord. Where the tenancy came with rights of succession: those will be lost. A former secure tenant who has become a tolerated trespasser will have no right to buy.
