If you are a traveller or gypsy and you are about to face eviction from an authorized or unauthorized site in London, you can learn about your rights and find out where you can receive help in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington.
Most Gypsies and Travellers who are living in caravans or mobile homes are living on permitted permanent sites in London and the site's owners could be either a private site owner or the council or housing association.
You can only be evicted from a permanent site in Greater London if the site owner in London obtains a court order through reasonable grounds for eviction.
Site owners in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington could evict you if:
Fail to pay the pitch fees in London
Breach the maintenance agreement for your caravan or mobile home in Greater London
You behave in an antisocial manner in London
You can also face eviction if the mobile home in London is not your primary home or residence.
The council site in Greater London will let you travel in your caravan for some weeks every year.
If a London property owner goes to court to get an eviction order in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington, they must prove that:
They communicated giving you enough notice
You have breached a term of your agreement
The court will hear the application for possession in London to know the whole truth.
Go to the court session in Greater London with your Solicitor, who will defend you.
After checking out the property owner's claims, your defence, and the problems, the Greater London court may end your stay there by ruling for your eviction in London.
There are council sites that you can stay that are authorized in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington.
If you get a pitch in such a place in London, you may live there in your caravan for up to three months.
Although, the council in Greater London can end your stay in London with 4 weeks' written notice and no court order, and they need no reason.
But if you violate any terms of the contract, you will be subject to your stay in London on the transit site finishing.
You will receive a notice with the reasons, and they will give you enough time to correct the anomaly.
There is a current scarcity of authorised permanent and transit sites in most locations in London.
To solve this problem, you can buy your land in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington and apply for planning permission and a site license, to park a caravan and live on your site.
If you have no permit or warrant, the council in Greater London has the right to act against anyone on the property to prohibit them from residing on the land in London.
The council can:
Give you an enforcement notice in London
Get a court injunction to eject you from your land in Greater London
You may continue to live on your land in London unless the council takes enforcement action against you.
What is known as a 'tolerated' unauthorised development.
An illegal encampment in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington means parking your caravan and living in a place without the owner's permission or legal approval, and this includes:
Roads, verges, and lay-bys in London
Farmland and other types of private land in Greater London
Forests, parks, and wasteland in London
There are a few locations in London where you can reach an agreement, a negotiated stopping settlement, which means you do not need to move instantly.
The terms of the agreement that you must obey fully include things like not lighting fires or filling the land with waste in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington.
You may be allowed to stay for one month as granted by the Greater London council after the agreement.
You can discuss with a Gypsy and Traveller liaison officer at the council to learn more.
In a situation where you refuse to move on when they ask you to, the council or police in London may:
Give you a strict direction to move from the land in London
Go to the magistrates' court in Greater London to ask for a removal order
However, the government officials will consider the needs of any children on-site in Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, or Islington before they give you an official instruction to leave.
After receiving an eviction order that is formal, if you do not leave the unauthorised site of camping in London, it is a criminal offence.
You could potentially be fined or arrested and they can tow your vehicles.
You can put up a defence for not leaving London under the following grounds; if there is an illness in your family, a mechanical breakdown, or other types of emergency.
The government categorises you as homeless in Greater London if you do not have a place that you can park your caravan legally and live in it.
Go to the council and ask for help if you do not have a home, or you are about to face eviction in London in the next two months.
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