When asked to consider whether a person cohabiting with a tenant before his death, and seeking a statutory tenancy after his death, the court stressed the importance of a ‘sufficient state of permanence and stability’ having been reached in the relationship so as to constitute a family. Cohabitation for two years still enabled the woman to qualify as a member of the tenant’s family. ‘ It was also argued that the absence of children and the shortness of the relationship should have resulted in a different conclusion. Counsel cited the very much longer periods in the reported cases referred to above. In my judgment, there can be no rule about length. Of course, the longer the relationship, the easier it will be to infer permanence, but there can be no rule about length. For a relationship of only two years to be regarded as permanent must be rare, but the judge for reasons which he gave found this was permanent and I see no reason for disagreeing. The appellants also submitted that there were periods of being apart, e.g. when the deceased was in Egypt and at holiday time, but I do not think that these made any difference. Finally, it was submitted that the fact that she still used her maiden name indicated that they did not constitute a family. This I found the most persuasive of all the appellants’ arguments, but at the end of the day the judge had to make a finding of fact bearing in mind the authorities I have quoted. He heard the evidence, he applied the right test and he came to the conclusion that this was a permanent relationship, so recognised by others, and that Miss Lopez was ‘a member of the tenant’s family’. I can see no reason for interfering with this conclusion . . ‘
Judges:
Sir George Waller
Citations:
(1987) 20 HLR 120
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd HL 28-Oct-1999
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member
The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as . .
Cited – Nutting v Southern Housing Group Ltd ChD 21-Dec-2004
The deceased tenant and the appellant had lived together in a violent alcoholic homosexual relationship. The appellant had claimed to have succeeded to the tenancy on his partner’s death. The authority said the relationship had been at an end, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Housing
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.215908