Protection from Eviction Act 1964
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Protection from EvictionAct 1964
1964 CHAPTER 97
An Act to restrict eviction from dwellings; to postpone the decontrol of formerly requisitioned dwellings; and for purposes connected therewith.
[17th December 1964]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Restriction on recovery of possession.
(1) Where any premises have been let as a dwelling and on the termination, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, of the tenancy (in this Act referred to as the former tenancy) any of the following persons remains in occupation of the premises or part of them and in residence therein, that is to say,—
(a ) the tenant under the former tenancy;
(b ) any person to whom the premises or part thereof have been lawfully sublet as a dwelling;
(c ) the widow or widower of any such person as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) or (b ) of this subsection residing with him at his death or, if that person leaves no such widow or widower, any member of his family residing with him at his death;
then, unless the former tenancy is excluded from the operation of this section, the following provisions of this Act shall apply with respect to the recovery of possession of the premises or part.
(2) In this Act ‘the occupier’, in relation to any premises, means the person remaining in occupation and in residence as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section; and ‘the owner’, in relation to any premises, means the person who, as against the occupier, is entitled to possession thereof.
(3) It shall not be lawful for the owner of any premises—
(a ) to enforce against the occupier, otherwise than by proceedings in the court, his right to recover possession of the premises; or
(b ) to withhold or withdraw from the occupier any services or furniture which are for the time being provided for him, except to the extent authorised in the proceedings or for reasonable cause;
and if any person contravenes the provisions of this subsection he shall, without prejudice to any liability or remedy to which he may be subject in civil proceedings, be liable on summary conviction to a fine nat exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.
(4) In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be a defence to prove that the owner believed, and had reasonable cause to believe, that the occupier had ceased to reside in the premises.
(5) Where an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(6) For the purposes of this Act a person who, whilst employed in agriculture (as defined in section 17(1) of the Agricultural Wages Act 1948 or section 17 of the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949 ) occupied any premises or part thereof under the terms of his employment shall be deemed to have been a tenant and the expressions ‘let’ and ‘tenancy’ shall be construed accordingly.
(7) In the application of this section to Scotland the following provision shall have effect in lieu of paragraph (a ) of subsection (3), that is to say, if the owner of any premises enforces against the occupier, otherwise than by due process of law, his right to recover possession of the premises he shall be deemed to have contravened that subsection.
2 Suspension of execution of order for possession.
(1) Without prejudice to any power of the court apart from this section to postpone the operation or suspend the execution of an order for possession, if in proceedings by the owner against the occupier of any premises the court makes or has before the commencement of this Act made an order for possession the court may suspend the execution of the order for such period, not exceeding twelve months from the date of the order, as the court thinks reasonable.
(2) Where the court by virtue of this section suspends the execution of an order for the possession of any premises it may authorise the withdrawal from the occupier...
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