Ratio Decidendi
Article 8 ECHR requires that any person at risk of being dispossessed of their home by a public authority should be able to have the proportionality of the eviction determined by an independent tribunal.
Facts
Manchester CC sought to evict Mr Pinnock from his demoted tenancy. The question was whether Article 8 could be raised as a defence to possession proceedings by a public authority landlord.
Judgment Summary
The Supreme Court held that Article 8 must be available as a defence in possession proceedings brought by public authority landlords. This reversed the previous domestic approach that treated statutory grounds as sufficient without proportionality review.
Key Quotes
"Where a court is asked to make an order for possession of a person's home, the court must have the power to assess the proportionality of making the order."
— Lord Neuberger
Subsequent Treatment
Applied in all subsequent public authority possession cases; confirmed in Hounslow v Powell [2011].