One of two joint tenants under a tenancy protected under the Act, had left the property to get married and did not intend to return. The remaining tenant stayed until the end of the tenancy. The landlord claimed possession, arguing that the remaining tenant was not a statutory tenant protected by the statute because she was not ‘the tenant’.
Held: Megaw LJ said that whilst it was a ‘remarkable fact’ that ‘the Rent Acts throughout their long history have never made any relevant express provision relating to joint tenants or joint tenancies’, ‘the ordinary law as to joint tenancy does not have to be, and ought not to be, applied in all its strictness . . it is permissible for the court to hold, if so to do makes better sense of the relevant statutory provision in its particular context, that one of those persons, by himself, may for certain purposes be treated as being ‘the tenant’.’
Judges:
Megaw LJ
Citations:
[1978] 1 QB 774
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Secretarial and Nominee Co Ltd v Thomas and others CA 29-Jul-2005
The court was asked about transitional arrangements for Rent Act tenants after the 1988 Act: ‘If A, a Rent Act tenant, takes a new tenancy agreement after the commencement of the 1988 Act jointly with B, does B thereafter partake in the ongoing . .
Cited – Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council v Hickin CA 27-Jul-2010
The claimant sought to succeed to a secure tenancy. She had lived with her mother, a joint tenant, but who had died before her father who had not lived at the house for many years and who had now died. The council said that the tenancy had become . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Housing, Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.230018
