The tenant had been ordered to leave her flat. She had kept a dog in breach of her tenancy agreement. The landlord had terminated the assured shorthold tenancy by a section 21 notice. She said that they had failed to make reasonable adjustments to allow for her disability, and that the dog was critical to her health, she suffering from Bipolar Mood Disorder. She had been housed as homeless after release from a mental hospital.
Held: The fact that the association only became aware of the disability issue after serving the notice made no difference, They had a continuing duty to review their decision. Even so, the appellant failed to establish that the ‘no animals’ term discriminated against her on the grounds of her disability and that if it did there was nothing the respondents could reasonably have done about it. The ‘no animals’ provision was in the appellant’s tenancy agreement and the head lease for a purpose. The tenant’s argument meant that the appellant’s Bipolar disorder effectively trumps her contractual agreement with the respondents and the respondents’ agreement with the head lessor as well as the interests of the other occupiers of Itchen Court.
Sir Scott Baker, Thomas LJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 265, [2010] L and TR 17, [2010] 2 P and CR 17
Bailii
Housing Act 1988 21, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 24A
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Project Management Institute v Latif EAT 10-May-2007
EAT The Appellant is a qualifying body, subject to section 14 of the Disability Discrimination Act. The Tribunal found that it had failed to make a reasonable adjustment in the arrangements it made for sitting an . .
Cited – London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm HL 25-Jun-2008
The tenant had left his flat and sublet it so as to allow the landlord authority an apparently unanswerable claim for possession. The authority appealed a finding that they had to take into account the fact that the tenant was disabled and make . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant, Discrimination
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.403318