Harris v Swick Securities Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS,LORD JUSTICE CROSS |
| Judgment Date | 22 July 1969 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1969] EWCA Civ J0722-3 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 22 July 1969 |
[1969] EWCA Civ J0722-3
In The Supreme Court of Judicature
Court of Appeal
Appeal of Swick Securities Ltd. from order of Judge Baxter at West London County Court on 19th November, 1968.
The Master of The Rolls (Lord Denning)
Lord Justice Winn and
Lord Justice Cross.
In the Matter of The Leasehold Reform ACT 1967
and
In the Matter of 10 Hilyard Road in the County of Greater London
Mr. L.A. BLUNDELL, Q.C., and Mr. A. FLETCHER (Instructed by Mr. G.L. Leigh) appeared on behalf of Swick Securities Ltd, Appellants.
Mr. R. GRAY, Q.C., and Mr. P. SEARD (instructed by Messrs. Parfitt Cressell & Willirms) appeared on behalf of Mr. Harris, Respondent in the appeal.
Swick Securities Ltd. are the freeholders of a house, No. 10, Hildyard Road, Fulham. Mrs. Harris is the leaseholder. She holds a lease which was granted in 1872 for 99 years at a ground rent of 10/- a year. So the lease is due to expire in 1971. Mrs. Harris is 73 years of age and has lived in the house all her life. The rateable value is under £400. The tenancy is clearly a "long tenancy" at a "low rent" within the Leasehold Reform Act, 1967. The question is whether she is entitled under the Act to buy the freehold.
The house is one of a terrace of houses built in 1872. Originally it was built for occupation by one family. In modern times it has been divided so as to accommodate four families. Mrs. Harris herself occupies the basement and lives there. She sublets the ground floor, the first floor and the second floor to tenants. One of them has been there 26 years, another for 6 years, and one for 4 years. The owners, Swick Securities Ltd., say that by reason of these sublettings Mrs. Harris has no right to buy in the freehold under the Act. They admit that if she were to let out the place to lodgers, and not to sub-tenants, she would be entitled to buy the freehold, but that, because she sublets, she has no such right.
Section 1(1) confers on a tenant of a leasehold house "occupying the house as his residence", a right to acquire on fair terms the freehold, provided that he has occupied it as his residence for the last 5 years or more.
Section 1(2) says that "references, in relation to any tenancy, to the tenant occupying a house as his residence shall be construed as applying where, but only where, the tenant is, in right of the tenancy, occupying it as his only or main residence (whether or not he uses it also for other purposes) but (a) references to a person occupying a house shall apply where he occupies it in part only".
The landlords say that the tenant has got to occupy the whole house himself. He may occupy it in part as a residence and inpart for other things (e.g. for rooms for lodgers), but he must occupy the whole himself. They say it is significant that the section does not say "occupies a partonly", but uses the words "occupies it in partonly."
I cannot accept this suggestion of the landlord. The words of section 1(2) show chat a tenant is entitled to the...
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