Tenant threatened with eviction for 'anti-social' website

A Glaswegian man is being threatened with eviction from his home because he ran a web site criticising his landlords.

John Quinn, a tenant of the North Glasgow Housing Association, has set up a site that details several complaints made by Quinn and other residents, who accuse the association of unprofessionalism, lying and nepotism.

The housing association argues the site is affecting its staff, and that his publishing it amounts to anti-social behaviour.

That came as a surprise to Quinn, his lawyers and to the Open Rights Group (Org), which campaigns on privacy issues in the UK.

Wendy Grossman of Org told Computeractive: "It seems bizarre that any landlord should have the right to evict a tenant on the basis of a web site. "

She added that although this is the first case where eviction has been threatened, it's not the first time a person's web site has got them into trouble.

"You do see stories of kids being suspended from school because they criticised a teacher on the internet, or of people being fired for putting up sites criticising their employers," she said.

"There's a chilling effect of self-censorship, where the more people believe there will be bad consequences of what they write online, the more they hesitate before saying anything."

However, Struan Robertson of law firm Pinsent Masons, which is not acting on behalf of either party, said it was not the "thin end of the wedge", adding: "People should always be careful of defamation. There is always the risk of being sued, and it's much more likely that we will continue to see libel actions, rather than cases like this."

The housing association took out an injunction against Quinn in April, after which he agreed to stop running the web site, instead handing its control over to other residents. The association said it could not comment further on its case against Quinn while it was subject to legal proceedings.

The case was due to be heard in November by the Glasgow Sheriff Court, but it has been postponed while his lawyers attempt to obtain legal aid to fight the case.

A statement from the housing association said that it had taken "appropriate action on grounds of harassment and anti-social behaviour".