An artist who lives in a floating caravan has won a court fight to prove her ‘dream home’ is not a boat – after being threatened with eviction.
Janet Jaffe’s property, which she moved into in 2017, consists of a caravan sitting atop a specially constructed platform in a flooded former gravel pit at Hartford Marina in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Last year Ms Jaffe, who sells hand-crocheted toys and clothes online and in craft shops, became locked in a landmark legal fight after the owner of the lake and the surrounding land tried to evict her.
Ms Jaffe claimed the landowner was not permitted to throw her out of her home without good reason, citing protections afforded to permanent residents in caravans by the 1983 Mobile Homes Act.
But landowner Tingdene Marinas Limited argued that she was not entitled to claim protection under the act, as her caravan is not on land but floating on water.
Crochet artist Janet Jaffe won a court case proving that her floating caravan was not a boat
Tingdene Marinas Limited wanted to evict Ms Jaffe and argued that as she lived in a houseboat they could do so at anytime. Pictured, floating caravans at Hartford Marina
Judge Elizabeth Cooke said she did not agree that ‘a structure is not “on land” merely because it is placed there with another physical structure between it and the surface of the earth or of the water covering the earth’
Lawyers for the company argued that because of its situation the Willerby-branded caravan is now technically a houseboat and that Ms Jaffe can therefore be evicted.
But Ms Jaffe, 58, has now won a ruling from a judge at the Upper Tribunal in London, confirming that her caravan has not stopped being a caravan just because it is floating on a lake.
‘I do not agree that a structure is not “on land” merely because it is placed there with another physical structure between it and the surface of the earth or of the water covering the earth,’ Judge Elizabeth Cooke said.
Writing online in an attempt to raise funds to pay her mum’s legal bills last year, Ms Jaffe’s daughter Vicky said the floating caravan was Ms Jaffe’s ‘dream home.’
‘My mum has worked hard her entire life and, at the age of 58, she deserves to have the home she’s always dreamed of,’ she said.
Stephen Cottle, for Ms Jaffe, told the judge that she claimed protection under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 when the landowner presented her with a notice to quit.
Ms Jaffe had an agreement, which gave her permission to station a mobile home on the site and to live in it as her sole residence, he told the judge.
And the act states that caravan-dwellers cannot be evicted without good reason so long as they are on land licensed for permanent residents in caravans and have signed a written agreement to be there with the landowner which they have subsequently not breached the terms of.
Ms Jaffe’s daughter Vicky said in an online fundraiser for legal fees that the floating caravan was her mother’s ‘dream home’
But Michael Ruddy, for Tingdene Marinas Limited, argued that the caravan and the floating platform should be taken together as forming a houseboat, which fails to pass the definition of a caravan.
He also argued that the caravan was not technically ‘on land’ and claimed that to classify it as a caravan not a boat went against planning laws.
But Judge Cooke dismissed those arguments and ruled that a floating caravan is still a caravan in the eyes of the law.
Upholding a decision made by the First-tier Tribunal in Ms Jaffe’s favour, the judge said: ‘”Caravan” means any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved from one place to another – whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer – and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted.
‘The tribunal found that the property is a caravan on a float, which is a type referred to on the site as the ‘Hartford Houseboat’.
‘The Willerby caravan is clearly identifiable, it is not fixed to the float and can be moved on and off.
Judge Cooke dismissed Tingdene Marinas’s arguments and ruled that a floating caravan is still a caravan in the eyes of the law
‘To provide the property with a particular nomenclature, such as the “Hartford Houseboat”, does not alter what it is, namely a caravan on a float.
‘Therefore as a matter of fact, Ms Jaffe lives in a structure which is a statutory caravan.
‘It happens to be on a float and to form part of a houseboat, but the fact remains that she lives in a Willerby caravan, which is agreed to be a statutory caravan, and her agreement with the appellant entitles her to do so.’
She continued: ‘Many caravans on dry land have a base, and that does not mean they are not placed on the land. I fail to see that the presence of a float between the caravan and the water means that the caravan is not on land. In the legal sense, that includes land covered by water.’
She went on to find that the floating caravan was also permitted under local planning laws, concluding, ‘therefore the site is a protected site’.
‘It is helpful to note that this is consistent with the policy of the legislation, which is to give some security to those who live in caravans as their home,’ the judge concluded.