Tenant obtains injunction to secure access to property

A tenant has obtained an injunction order to secure access to his London property, after he was unable to return following the discharge of an antisocial behaviour injunction.

The man, represented by GT Stewart Solicitors, was served an antisocial behaviour injunction by his landlord and was excluded from the property.

He sought assistance from the homeless person’s unit and was provided with s.188 temporary accommodation. Following this, he was assessed as “lacking litigation and injunction capacity” and the exclusion order was discharged, GT Stewart said.

The law firm said: “Our client was not able to return to the property following the discharge of the injunction, as due to hoarding it required a deep clean and there was also extensive disrepair. The council continued to provide him with alternative temporary accommodation but by way of decant.”

The man was informed that works had been completed by December 2022.

Requests were made for the tenant to be provided with keys to the property, as the locks has been changed during the course of the repair works, and for his belongings that had been placed in storage to be returned.

According to the law firm, “no response was received despite repeated requests” so in June 2023 it applied for an injunction on his behalf.

An injunction order requiring the unnamed local authority to provide keys to the property within 7 days, to return the man’s belonging in storage, and arrange for the removal of his belongings from his decant accommodation to the property within 30 days was obtained at the hearing.

The tenant was represented by GT Stewart solicitor Claire Wiles, assisted by counsel Alice Irving of Doughty Street Chambers.