We regularly receive requests from clients to help them to deal with evicting travellers from their land. We understand that travellers can cause considerable inconvenience, damage to property and also be detrimental to business.
The first, recommended course of action when travellers have moved onto your land is to talk to them and make it clear that they are on your private property. Ask why they are there and how long they intend to stay. In doing so try to note the number of people and vehicles present. These discussions should be undertaken carefully. The travelling community are used to being treated in a prejudicial manner and can be quite defensive. If discussions become difficult then simply leave and begin dealing with them through formal channels. At this point, it is worth noting that the police take the view that travellers are usually en route to a particular event, such as the Stow Horse Fair, and therefore they may advise inaction for a few days in order to give the travellers time to move on unless there is an immediate risk of damage to property or obstruction to the highway. However, if you are worried about damage or disturbance then it is entirely reasonable to try and resolve the matter immediately.
You need to ensure that the correct notices are posted and that the correct processes for issuing and serving Court Summons for Possession are followed. Once a Possession Order has been granted by the Court a private bailiff can be engaged to remove the travellers. However, what happens if the travellers simply move to another part of your land? A recent case heard in the Supreme Court in December last year has changed the way in which possession claims against travellers may be approached. The case of Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs –v- Meier (2009) concerned a group of travellers at Hethfelton Wood in Dorset.
When Defra issued possession proceedings for the land, the travellers agreed to leave, only to move to a different piece of woodland nearby. This went on for some time until finally, exasperated by the endless cycle of possession proceedings, Defra issued proceedings against the travellers requesting possession not just of the site that they were currently occupying but of all other sites owned by Defra in the neighbouring area. The hope was that if one Order could cover all of the sites then it would prevent the travellers from simply moving from site to site each time a Possession Order was granted.
The Supreme Court held that it was not possible for Defra to obtain possession of all the land in the area that it owned as it was not yet dispossessed and the Order would cover most of the county! The Court did, however, grant an injunction against the anticipated trespass in an attempt to dissuade the travellers from entering onto any other sections of Defra’s land. The Court also gave guidance that it would be possible for a landowner to obtain a possession order for a large parcel of land, even if the travellers only occupied part of it.
While this is a small victory on the part of landowners, it is debatable how effective such an Injunction is going to be. Travellers’ main tangible assets are their vehicles, which are also their homes. Therefore, ordering damages for breaching an Injunction may be seen as oppressive. In addition, since many of the Defendants are perceived as vulnerable or have young children then imprisonment would be considered disproportionate. This means an Injunction would be difficult for the Courts to enforce. Lord Neuberger, in his judgment, suggested an alternative route may be for the Court to grant a declaration that the landowner is in possession of other land and that the travellers have no right to dispossessing of it. While this would not stop the travellers moving onto this land it would help the landowner resolve any subsequent proceedings more easily to his advantage.
Despite the above suggestion, the best way that landowners can prevent travellers from moving onto any part of their land is to ensure that all other entrances and boundaries of their land are secure as possible. This should be done before instructing the bailiffs to enforce the possession order and move the travellers off the land being occupied.
If you need advice on evicting travellers from your land please contact Jane Senior.
