The Court of Appeal in McDonald v McDonald [2014] EWCA Civ 1049 refused to introduce a proportionality assessment into the process of granting a possession order under section 21 Housing Act 1988. In reaching this conclusion, the court engaged with, but ultimately rejected, the possibility of horizontal effect of article 8 in relation to possession actions against tenants by private landlords. The result in this case is correct – there is no opportunity within the statutory scheme for a proportionality assessment. If one is required, the statutory provisions must be amended, but the court’s reasoning in reaching this result fails to distinguish between direct horizontal effect, whereby an obligation is imposed onto the landlord, and statutory horizontal effect whereby an obligation is imposed onto the court through the interpretation obligation of section 3(1) HRA 1998. This results in a misrepresentation of the relevant Strasbourg authorities, giving rise to the potential for confusion in future cases.