The council had applied for an injunction to restrain the defendants from letting their properties on short term lets for holidaymakers. The houses had been sold by the council under the right to buy schemes, and they remained subject to covenants restraining the use of the property other than as a private dwelling house and not for business use. It now appealed against the refusal of such injunctions.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The use for lettings of one or two weeks at a time were not lettings as a private dwelling house, since they lacked the necessary permanence. The tenants could not be said to be using the properties as a home even for the short period, and the lettings were in breach. The use as a private dwellinghouse required some occupation as a home. That element implied a permanence and intention to reside in the property which was missing from such lets. Lord Justice Latham emphasised that covenants must be construed in their context. The context here was the desire to preserve the availability of housing stock built with public funds. Given this finding it was unnecessary to decide whether the use was in breach of the covenant against use for business
Judges:
Latham LJ, Clarke LJ
Citations:
Times 17-May-2000, Gazette 31-May-2000, [2000] 3 EGLR 57, (2001) 33 HLR 34
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Triplerose Ltd v Beattie and Another UTLC 4-Jun-2020
Short term visitor sublets were breach of lease
Landlord and Tenant – Breach of Covenant – covenant against use of flat other than as a private dwelling house and prohibiting use for trade or business – whether breached by use of flat as serviced apartment advertised on internet booking sites – . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.78885