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Govanhill Law Centre (GhLC) has prevented
the instant eviction of a family of European Union (EU) nationals with four
young children by lodging a sheriff court appeal earlier this afternoon seeking
the suspension of the eviction.
Physical ejection from the property was
scheduled to take place tomorrow at 10am in Govanhill. A sheriff at Glasgow
Sheriff Court has now issued a court order to temporarily suspend the ejection,
in order to give the family time to secure homeless or alternative
accommodation.
The client had obtained the lease of a
privately let flat in Govanhill, paying a deposit and rent, only to discover
they had been duped. There is a criminal
practice in Glasgow of fraudsters breaking into vacant flats and falsely
letting them out to vulnerable low paid EU workers.
Our client’s case called in court yesterday
on 48 hours notice (instead of the usual 21 days). Our client accepted she
would have to leave the flat but asked for a little time to find alternative
accommodation. The sheriff refused to do so and granted an immediate extract
decree for eviction, and dispensed with the need to serve a charge for
removing. The standard practice on decree for eviction is an occupier will have
28 days before eviction by sheriff officers.
The client’s solicitor, GhLC’s senior
solicitor, Rachel Moon obtained instructions for Govan Law Centre’s Mike Dailly
to draft an urgent Note of Appeal today. The Note of Appeal argued that the
sheriff’s decree was unlawful as it was a disproportionate interference with
the client’s right to respect for her private and family life, and her home, as
safeguarded by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
There had been no proper assessment of the
proportionality of the granting of an “instantly enforceable” eviction decree
as was required standing European human rights jurisprudence including the case
of Kay v. UK (2012) 54 E.H.R.R. Some key
facts in the case were in dispute and there was no evidential inquiry.
The court had been made aware the family could not obtain homelessness assistance from the local council upon zero notice, given the need to ingather evidence to satisfy the various residency and work tests for eligibility, and would be destitute and homeless without some period of notice. Despite this, the sheriff had granted decree, which would be immediately enforced with no notice.
Following the sheriff’s order this afternoon, the family now have an opportunity to secure alternative accommodation with the help of Govanhill Law Centre.
The court had been made aware the family could not obtain homelessness assistance from the local council upon zero notice, given the need to ingather evidence to satisfy the various residency and work tests for eligibility, and would be destitute and homeless without some period of notice. Despite this, the sheriff had granted decree, which would be immediately enforced with no notice.
Following the sheriff’s order this afternoon, the family now have an opportunity to secure alternative accommodation with the help of Govanhill Law Centre.
