Nuisance injunction refused

Mrs G had been a secure tenant on one of the council's estates. She was evicted on nuisance grounds but her 17-year-old son continued to go to the estate to visit friends and relatives. On one visit, he threatened violence to a resident who had given evidence for the council in the possession proceedings against his mother.

A judge granted the council's application for an injunction under section 152 of the 1996 Housing Act, banning him from the estate with a power of arrest attached. The son appealed, arguing that his victim was not a tenant but an owner-occupier and that he himself was a "child" against whom such an injunction should not be made.

The Court of Appeal allowed his appeal on the first point, and as a result did not deal with the "child" issue. It decided such injunctions were only available where the threatened or actual violence was directed to a council tenant, a person residing with or visiting a council tenant or a person engaging in a lawful activity related to a council property.

In this case, the victim had once been a council tenant but had used the right to buy. When threatened, the only activity in which the victim had been engaged was talking, on the street, to another estate resident (also a homeowner). That did not have a "link" or "connection" to any council property.