The landmark ruling by Mr Justice Girvan followed a judicial review sought by the Landlords’ Association of Northern Ireland (LANI). It overturns a law introduced by the government Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) in 2003, which placed the onus on private landlords to ‘police’ tenants and their guests and to prevent them from indulging in anti-social behaviour and annoying their neighbours and the local community.
It was feared that following successful implementation of the measure in Northern Ireland it would be extended to the rest of the United Kingdom.
David Salusbury, chairman of the National Landlords Association, comments: “While we absolutely deplore anti-social behaviour in all its forms and do everything we can to prevent it, this law sought to pass the buck unfairly to private landlords to stamp it out. Clearly, responsibility must sit firmly and squarely with the police and the courts. The suggestion that landlords should be required to operate what would be effectively a private police force to supervise the behaviour of tenants and their guests outside the rented premises was quite unacceptable and iniquitous.”
The NIHE introduced this obligation as part of a new registration scheme covering houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), the definition of which was changed to capture almost any household comprising more than one unrelated individual. The scheme contained what are described as ‘special control provisions’ requiring landlords to ‘prevent… the behaviour of [the house’s] residents from adversely affecting the amenity or character of the area.’
“NIHE is itself owner of social housing in Northern Ireland, but the law was framed so that the NIHE was specifically excluded from the new rules,” adds the NLA’s vice chairman John Socha, who attended a number of the hearings in Belfast. “They expected the private landlord to accept this policing role, but the NIHE, effectively a branch of government, wouldn’t accept it themselves in respect of their own tenants. That’s quite outrageous.”
Mr Justice Girvan’s judgement focused on the discriminatory nature of the measure, which failed to take account of landlords’ rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, infringing on their rights as regards use of properties they own.
“The judge ruled that the Scheme produced a ‘wholly disproportionate impact’ on certain households and agreed with our viewpoint that burdensome and unnecessary regulation has an adverse effect on the private rental sector by discouraging investment by landlords,” continues David Salusbury.
In his decision, Judge Girvan commented: “An ill-formulated Scheme may (inter alia) have the undesirable and unintended impact of reducing the number of HMOs available to provide accommodation for persons in need of it.”
David Salusbury comments: “The NIHE has been high-handed in the extreme by imposing this law without consultation, in the belief that affected landlords in Northern Ireland didn’t have the will or resources to fight. With financial and technical support from the National Landlords Association, plus the National Association of Estate Agents, RICS and other organisations, LANI has succeeded in over-turning this unfair law. It’s a triumph for common sense and for the rights of the private landlord.”
“It also means that the Government will hesitate before attempting a similar piece of legislation in the rest of the United Kingdom, as we were fearing,” concludes David Salusbury.
