One of the countrys top judges yesterday refused to play the part of “Robin Hood” to save a Cirencester woman from eviction from a property that had been her home for 23 years.
Ann Moisejevs was evicted from 51 Burge Court, Cirencester, on the basis of a possession ordered granted by Swindon County Court, even though at the last minute she paid all arrears due under the terms of an earlier suspended possession order.
She challenged that order in Londons Appeal Court, claiming that her housing association landlord was wrong to send bailiffs in on the basis that the suspended order had been breached after the money had been paid.
Moisejevs claimed that she was told by her landlord, Jephson Homes Housing Association Ltd, which had obtained a suspended possession order from Swindon County Court in August 1999, that she just had to pay £876 of her £1,223 arrears and arrange for her housing benefit to be reinstated and the eviction would be stopped.
Stephen Knafler, counsel for Moisejevs, argued that she had been misled by the landlord into not applying to the court for a suspension of the warrant before eviction took place.
He argued that even if she was not actively misled, she had genuinely believed that this was all she had to do to avoid eviction and, in those circumstances, he claimed the court should set aside the eviction.
Dismissing her appeal, Simon Brown LJ said that the evidence did not support the claim that Mrs Moisejevs had been misled by her landlord. He said that although he thought she was under a genuine misapprehension, this was not enough for him to use his power to set the eviction aside.
“The courts inherent power is to prevent the oppressive use of its own processes. It is not to act as Robin Hood and cure all perceived injustices,” he said.
He said that it was not because of lack of notice that Mrs Moisejevs failed to apply to suspend the warrant, as she knew full well when the bailiffs were due to arrive. It was because of her misunderstanding of what was required to stop them that she failed to apply. In those circumstances her appeal failed.
Jephson Homes Housing Association v Moisejevs and another Court of Appeal (Simon Brown and Rix LJJ) 31 October 2000.
Stephen Knafler (instructed by Bobbetts Mackan, of Bristol) appeared for the appellant; Timothy Fancourt (instructed by Burges Salmon, of Bristol) appeared for the respondent.
PLS News 2/11/00
