Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council v Paice

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date17 March 1995
Date17 March 1995
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)

Court of Appeal

Before Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice Waite and Lord Justice Millett

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
and
Paice

Landlord and tenant - occupancy as secure tenant

Occupancy was as secure tenant

The tenant of a dwellinghouse which formed part of business premises of which his landlord was the intermediate lessee under a tenancy granted by the local authority became a secure tenant under the Housing Act 1985 upon surrender of the mesne tenancy.

The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment allowing an appeal by Mr Tony Walter James Paice against a declaration made by Judge Brodrick at Basingstoke County Court that Mr Paice, in respect of his occupation of premises at Coronation Road, Basingstoke, was not a secure tenant of the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Mr Keith Wylie for Mr Paice; Mr Jeffrey Widdup for the council.

LORD JUSTICE WAITE said that by a lease dated April 10, 1984 the council demised to a Mr Jacques L'Heureux, the mesne landlord, garage premises at Coronation Road, the main premises, for a term of 15 years from August 1980 at an annual rent, subject to periodic review, of £6,000.

In 1985 the mesne landlord in breach of covenant converted part of the office portion of the main premises into a residential flat. He allowed Mr Paice into occupation of the flat at a rent payable weekly. The flat was a dwellinghouse for the purposes of the Rent Acts and accordingly Mr Paice became a protected tenant of the flat as against the mesne landlord under the Rent Act 1977.

In November 1990 the mesne landlord surrendered the unexpired term of the lease of the main premises to the council. In January 1991 the council brought possession proceedings against Mr Paice.

By the date of the hearing the council were prepared to concede that, following the surrender of the lease, Mr Paice had become their direct tenant, holding over as a weekly tenant. It was undisputed that he could not set up statutory protection under the Rent Acts against the council.

The sole relevant issue for the judge was: what kind of tenancy did Mr Paice enjoy? Was it a secure tenancy under the 1985 Act or a simple weekly tenancy capable of being brought to an end by one month's notice at common law?

Until the coming into force of the Housing Act 1980, tenants of local housing authorities had no statutory security of tenure. That Act introduced, and the 1985 Act continued, an entirely new statutory creature which imported elements from the 1977...

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8 cases
  • Gay v Sheeran
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 22 June 1999
    ...by virtue of the subsisting contractual tenancy, which would revert to being a secure tenancy on such occupation (see Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council v Paice (1995) 27 H.L.R. 433, in which it was held that s.79 Housing Act 1985 had ambulatory effect). Mr. Morgan argues that to require......
  • Kay v Lambeth City Council; Leeds City Council v Price
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 16 March 2005
    ...status, depending on either a change of landlord or a change in the tenant's own circumstances; see Basingstoke & Deane BC v Paice (1995) 27 HLR 433, CA; Crawley BC v Sawyer (1987) 20 HLR 98, CA; and Elvidge v Coventry City Council (1993) 26 HLR 281, 54 By section 82, a secure tenancy under......
  • The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Islington v Boyle
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 6 December 2011
    ...pass in and out of secure tenant status, so that section 79(1) has (what has been described as) ambulatory effect: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council v Plaice (1995) 27 HLR 433 (CA) at 437. Where a notice to quit has been served to terminate the contractual tenancy, the Tenant Condition ......
  • Rizwan Ali Bhai and Another v Black Roof Community Housing Association Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 2 November 2000
    ...secure tenancies. In support of this submission, he cites the decision of this court in Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council v. Paice (1995) 27 HLR 433, where Waite LJ said this (at page 437): "The use of the term "at any time" in section 79(1) [of the 1985 Act] shows that the section is t......
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