Kerr v Bryde: HL 3 Nov 1922

A house was let on 28th August 1916 for a period of one month at the standard rent within the meaning of the Rent Restriction Acts, and the tenancy was thereafter from time to time renewed by tacit relocation. On 27th July 1920 and subsequent dates the landlord served on the tenant the statutory notice under the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920 of his intention to increase the rent, but did not serve a notice of removal. The tenant paid the increased rent for a time and then got into arrears. In an action by the landlord for recovery of the arrears, held ( aff. the judgment of the First Division, Lords Dunedin and Wrenbury diss.) that in the absence of notice terminating the tenancy the period in respect of which the increased rent was demanded was not a ‘period during which but for this Act the landlord would be entitled to obtain possession,’ and that accordingly the increase of rent had not been authorised by the Act.

Lords Dunedin, Atkinson, Sumner, Wrenbury, and Carson
[1922] UKHL 575, 59 SLR 575
Bailii
Scotland

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.632809