Judge: siblings stay in home

Monday 20 April 2009

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A brother and sister’s fight to keep the home they have lived in for more than 50 years has been successful.

Harry and Denise Green have lived in social housing in Billingbear in Binfield for most of their lives but Bracknell Forest Council wanted to evict them to offer their house to applicants on the council house waiting list.

The siblings have been fighting the decision in an effort to stay in the house against several attempts by the housing authortity to move them out.

Denise Green has lived in the three-bedroomed house, worth around £500,000, since her parents moved there in 1958, and her brother Harry has lived there his whole life.

At the Appeal Court in London, the Council’s lawyers argued that Bracknell Forest’s housing stock had been decimated by people buying their council houses and that applicants for three bedroomed houses faced a nine-year wait.

Jan Luba QC, representing the Greens, successfully argued on appeal that "the personal circumstances of the tenant and his family outweighed that factor." The appeal court judges found in favour of the appelants and in agreeing, Lord Justice Mummery said it was "reasonable" for the Greens to stay where they are.

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