Commentary on Sections Part 5: Recovery of possession of dwelling-houses: anti-social behaviour grounds Section 97: Corresponding new ground and notice requirements for assured tenancies
214.Most tenants in the private sector and most tenants of PRPs and RSLs have assured tenancies. With assured tenancies, the court must grant the landlord possession if a ground in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 (“the Housing Act”) is met and may grant possession if one of the grounds in Part 2 of Schedule 2 to that Act is met and it is reasonable to grant possession. Under ground 14 of Schedule 2, the court may grant possession on the grounds of anti-social behaviour if it considers it reasonable to do so.
215.Section 97 inserts a new ground for possession of a dwelling that is the subject of an assured tenancy into Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act.
216.Subsection (1) amends Schedule 2 to the Housing Act so that the court will be required to grant possession under the new ground (ground 7A) if any of one of the five conditions in that ground, which are identical to those in the new section 84A of the 1985 Act (as inserted by section 94), is met.
217.Section 7(3) of the Housing Act, as amended by paragraph 18 of Schedule 11 to the Act, clarifies that the grounds in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to that Act (including new ground 7A) are subject to any available defence based upon the tenant’s Convention rights. Since this reflects the position already, following the judgments in Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45 and London Borough of Hounslow v Powell [2011] UKSC 8 (where the court found that landlords who are public authorities must consider the proportionality of their decisions), this amendment is merely clarificatory and has no substantive legal effect.
218.Subsection (2) amends section 8 of the Housing Act to modify the notice requirements for possession under assured tenancies to take account of the new ground 7A. It sets the time limits within which notices under ground 7A must be served.