High Court upholds council's right to evict tenant

THE HIGH Court has rejected a challenge to a law under which local authorities are entitled to evict tenants for anti-social behaviour without giving specific details.

The challenge was brought by Vicky Leonard, a mother of one and heroin addict on a methadone treatment programme, of Bridgefoot Street in Dublin. She was evicted on grounds of "good estate management" after it was found she had breached a tenancy agreement by permitting her partner, a drug addict, to visit and live at the house.

The law in dispute - Section 62 of the Housing Act 1966 - permits local authorities to evict people once its official tells a District Court it is for reasons of "good estate management". A tenant is not entitled to challenge this evidence.

There have been previous unsuccessful legal challenges to the law but Ms Leonard's was the first to be brought under provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 which provide that everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing in determination of their civil rights.

Ms Leonard, who had been given a new duplex home by Dublin City Council in the redeveloped Bridgefoot Street flats complex, had an eviction order made against her after officials found she had breached her tenancy agreement by allowing her partner into the house.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne ruled the council had established proper justification for interfering with the rights of Ms Leonard in order to protect other tenants from anti-social behaviour.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times