Landlords not liable for students

Landlords say they provide a 'much-needed' service for Queen's

Dealing with unruly students is not the responsibility of private landlords, a High Court judge has ruled.

Landlords have won their legal battle against legislation which made them responsible for the behaviour of their tenants in public.

The Belfast court heard that the scheme discriminated against private landlords as other groups were excluded.

Mr Justice Girvan held that the scheme was flawed and must comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

He ruled that the legislation controlling Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) must be redrafted to comply with the convention's right to property.

Welcoming the ruling, Landlords Association of Northern Ireland chairman Declan Boyle said "it reinforces our belief that we are not a secondary police force".

I think there are other ways of dealing with it and taking such a heavy handed approach might not be the best way Damien Kavanagh Student leader

He said if the landlords did not fulfil "a much-needed service", Queen's University "would have to build 30 or 40 additional halls of residence".

The Housing Executive welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement that it would be "helpful in clarifying the scope of powers provided under the legislation".

It said this legal challenge to the UK-wide HMO legislation was believed to be the first time a court had been asked to consider these issues.

The ruling came on the same day that an "off-campus" disciplinary group at the university suspended its first student for bad behaviour in public.

The group was set up after the university was criticised for not tackling unruly student behaviour in the Holy Land area of south Belfast.

The male student was suspended for a number of weeks after being caught behaving in a "lewd" manner.

Another seven students were reprimanded by the newly formed committee.

A further complaint could lead to the suspended student being expelled from the university.

There is a right of appeal against the suspension.

'Antics'

Professor Gerry McCormack said the university was determined to deal with the problem of anti-social behaviour.

"There is a whole range of activities that range from noise to aggressiveness, to misbehaviour of one form or another, it would be impossible to give the specifics of all of the types of antics that students get up to," he said.

"But certainly they all warrant going before the off-campus disciplinary committee."

However, student leader Damien Kavanagh said he had concerns that his members were being made scape-goats to save the university's reputation.

"I feel that maybe some students may be "scape-goated" as a result of pressure being put on Queen's to work on students and to deal with these particular issues," he said.

"I think there are other ways of dealing with it and taking such a heavy handed approach might not be the best way."

Last month, Queen's University and the University of Ulster launched a campaign aimed at improving relations between students and residents in the Holy Land area off the Ormeau Road.

The two universities have received 270 complaints of anti-social behaviour by students in the area since September.