Horizontality and Housing Rights Protection against Private Evictions from a European and South African Perspective

In the recent decision of FJM v. the United Kingdom, the ECtHR made a decision on the required protection against private evictions that threatens to water-down the protection of housing rights offered by the ECHR. This article sets out to determine the effect of the FJM judgment on the protection provided by Article 8, especially in matters concerning private evictions. The analysis of the case includes a discussion on whether the decision of the ECtHR was correct, considering both its previous decisions, as well as the SA Constitutional Court's findings in similar matters. It analyses the recent European and South African case law with the help of a number of concepts developed in legal theory. These concepts concern vertical and horizontal relations between actors involved in housing law cases, as well as direct and indirect effect of human and constitutional rights.