Squatters and human rights test case result

Wednesday 3 July 2013

The Court of Appeal today gave judgment in an important case about the impact of human rights principles on possession claims brought by private landowners against trespassers.

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The claim concerned land occupied by the "Grow Heathrow" campaign which aims to tackle the dereliction of land blighted by the proposal to construct a third runway at Heathrow. Last year, a judge granted a forthwith possession order. The squatters appealed, contending that - in the light of the Human Rights Act - judges were no longer obliged to make 'forthwith' orders in such cases. They were represented by Jan Luba QC and Lindsay Johnson.

The legal point divided the judges but they rejected the appeal on the facts. As the land had been occupied for three years, it was now time to give the owner possession.

The presentation of the case was described as demonstrating the "very best of British".

For the judgment, click the link below.

Associated Files

  • Malik v McGahan.pdf (259.1 KB)

    To save a local copy of the file, right-click on the link and select the 'Save Target As...' option.

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