Govan Law Centre (GLC) has begun legal proceedings at Scotland’s Supreme Court on behalf of two of the 330 asylum seekers threatened by Serco with DIY eviction from their accommodation in Glasgow.
GLC will seek to prevent private landlords Serco Group plc, Compass SNI Ltd and the Secretary of State from making their clients homeless by changing the locks on the property provided, a step Serco advised it would take as the Home Office was no longer funding the rents of the concerned tenants.
GLC will argue that in addition to key principles in Scots contract law, Scots common law and the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, there are also important Human Rights Act principles currently at stake, and untested, in the U.K.
Human Rights Law, Scotland
The legal issue which has now arisen highlights the question of whether protections for tenants in the ordinary law also applies to asylum seekers, with some asylum seekers having their claims for asylum refused, while approximately 100 have been granted leave to remain in the UK.
GLC’s solicitor advocate Mike Dailly said: "Following the successful European Court of Human Rights case of Panyushkiny v. Russia [2018] H.L.R 7, we believe an asylum seeker at risk of eviction has the right to challenge the proportionality of that eviction before an independent tribunal as a matter of Human Rights Law. GLC believes Serco’s “Move on Protocol” is unlawful and incompatible with the 1998 Human Rights Act, and it’s incumbent upon Serco to place its entire policy on hold in Scotland, pending Scotland’s Supreme Court having an opportunity to consider and rule on this issue.”
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