Homeless Hostel Room Has Privacy Rights

A homeless person’s locked bedroom in a hostel is subject to the same rights against trespassers as anyone else’s property. That was the conclusion of the Divisional Court in a recent case when a complaint against the police was made following the search of a hostel room when an occupant of an adjoining room in the hostel was to be arrested for burglary.

The Court ruled that each bedroom was a separate dwelling and each occupant has the right to exclude the police from his or her bedroom.

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