Speedwell Estates Ltd and Another v Dalziel and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | MR JUSTICE RIMER,LORD JUSTICE MAY,LORD JUSTICE PILL |
| Judgment Date | 31 July 2001 |
| Neutral Citation | [2001] EWCA Civ 1277,[2001] EWCA Civ 1307 |
| Docket Number | NO: 2000/2946 to 2948,Case No: A3/2000/2496 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 31 July 2001 |
[2001] EWCA Civ 1277
Lord Justice Pill
Lord Justice May and
Mr Justice Rimer
Case No: A3/2000/2496
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE COUNTY COURT
(Mr Recorder James Allen Q.C.)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Mr Nigel Gerald (instructed by Brown Holliday & Clements) appeared for the Respondents/Appellants (Jane Dalziel, Ernest Lascelles and Jenny McCormick)
Miss Jodie James-Staddon (instructed by Grove Tomkins Bosworth) appeared for the Applicants/Respondents (Speedwell Estates Limited and Covent Garden Group Limited)
These appeals are against three orders made on 29 August 2000 by Mr Recorder James Allen Q.C. in Newcastle upon Tyne County Court. They were made in three separate actions, each raising the same issue. The applicants in each action are Speedwell Estates and Covent Garden Group Limited ("the landlords"). The respondents to each action are Jane Dalziel, Ernest Lascelles and Jenny McCormick respectively ("the tenants"). Each is a tenant of the landlords, holding a house under a long lease at a low rent. They claimed to be entitled to acquire the freeholds of their houses under the provisions of Part 1 of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, as amended, ("the 1967 Act") and they each served a notice of their desire to do so. The landlords asserted that the notices failed in material respects to satisfy the statutory requirements for such notices and were invalid and they sought declarations that the tenants were not entitled to acquire the freeholds. The judge agreed with the landlords and made such declarations. The tenants accept that there were imperfections in their notices, but they have argued on these appeals that the judge was in error in holding them to be invalid.
The houses are at 4, 12 and 24 Carlisle Terrace, West Allotment, Newcastle upon Tyne. The terrace (or a material part of it) was originally in the common ownership of W.R. Lamb, C.B. Lamb and E. Eccles ("the original lessors"), and these and other houses on it were constructed at the beginning of the last century by a Mr Taylor ("the builder").
Mrs Dalziel's tenancy of No. 4 is under a lease dated 30 November 1900 made between (1) the original lessors, (2) the builder, and (3) F. Routledge, as lessee. That lease granted a tenancy of the houses at 3 and 4 Carlisle Terrace for a term of 99 years from 1 July 1900 at an annual rent of 14s (70 pence). At some point the leasehold interest was split, and by an assignment of 31 July 1959 the leasehold interest in No. 4 was vested in Mr and Mrs Dalziel as joint tenants subject to an apportioned annual rent of 7s (35 pence). Mr Dalziel died on 17 June 1988 and Mrs Dalziel became the sole surviving tenant.
Mr Lascelles's tenancy of No. 12 is under a lease dated 1 October 1901 made between (1) the original lessors, (2) the builder, and (3) G. Wilson, as lessee. That lease granted a tenancy of the houses at 12 and 13 Carlisle Terrace for the same term and rent. Again, the leasehold interest was later split, and by an assignment of 7 September 1964 the leasehold interest in No. 12 was vested in Mr and Mrs Lascelles as joint tenants subject to an apportioned annual rent of 7s.
Mrs McCormick's tenancy of No. 24 is under a lease dated 18 October 1901 made between (1) the original lessors, (2) the builder, and (3) T. Carmichael, as lessee. That lease granted a tenancy of the houses at 24 and 25 Carlisle Terrace for the same term and rent. Again, the leasehold interest was later split and by an assignment of 23 October 1967 No. 24 was vested in Mr and Mrs McCormick as joint tenants at an apportioned annual rent of 7s. Mr McCormick died on 1 May 1978 and Mrs McCormick became the sole surviving tenant.
The landlords acquired the freehold reversions on the three tenancies in July 1996.
Each tenancy was a long tenancy at a low rent within the meaning of Part 1 of the 1967 Act. The tenants had occupied their houses as their residences for 30 years or more and were in principle each entitled under Part 1 to acquire their freeholds on fair terms. They each wanted to do so. Section 8 of the 1967 Act entitled them to give to the landlords "written notice of his desire to have the freehold …". If they gave such notice, then:
"… except as provided by this Part of this Act the landlord shall be bound to make to the tenant, and the tenant to accept, (at the price and on the conditions so provided) a grant of the house and premises for an estate in fee simple absolute, subject to the tenancy and to tenant's incumbrances, but otherwise free from incumbrances."
Section 5 shows that the consequence of the service of a valid such notice is to give landlord and tenant mutual rights in the nature of those arising under a contract of sale.
Part II of Schedule 3 to the 1967 Act contains the "Procedural Provisions" governing the service of notices. Paragraph 6 provides as follows:
"6.-(1) A tenant's notice under Part 1 of this Act of his desire to have the freehold or an extended lease of a house and premises shall be in the prescribed form, and shall contain the following particulars:
(a) the address of the house, and sufficient particulars of the house and premises to identify the property to which the claim extends;
(b) such particulars of the tenancy and, in the case of a tenancy falling within section 4(1)(i) of this Act, of the rateable value of the house and premises as serve to identify the instrument creating the tenancy and show that (apart from the operation, if any, of the proviso to section 4(1) of this Act) the tenancy is and has at all material times been a long tenancy at a low rent;
(c) the date on which the tenant acquired the tenancy;
(d) the periods for which since the beginning of the preceding ten years and since acquiring the tenancy the tenant has and has not occupied the house as his residence, together with the following additional particulars about the periods for which during the time he has so occupied the house, that is to say,-
(i) what parts, if any, of the house have not been in his own occupation and for what periods; and
(ii) what other residence, if any, he has had for what periods, and which was his main residence
(e) in the case of a tenancy falling within section 1(1)(a)(ii) of this Act, the premium payable as a condition of the grant of the tenancy.
(1A) Where the tenant gives notice by virtue of section 1AA of this Act, sub-paragraph (1) above shall have effect with the substitution for paragraph (b) of –
'(b) such particulars of the tenancy as serve to identify the instrument creating the tenancy and show that the tenancy is one in relation to which section 1AA(1) of this Act has effect to confer a right to acquire the freehold of the house and premises;'.
(2) Where the tenant gives the notice by virtue of section 6 or 7 of this Act, sub-paragraph (1)(c) and (d) above shall apply with the appropriate modifications of references to the tenant, so that the notice shall show the particulars bringing the case within section 6 or 7. (3) The notice shall not be invalidated by any inaccuracy in the particulars required by this paragraph or any misdescription of the property to which the claim extends; and where the claim extends to property not properly included in the house and premises, or does not extend to property that ought to be so included, the notice may with the leave of the court, and on such terms as the court may see fit to impose, be amended so as to exclude or include that property."
On 24 July 1998, Mr Lascelles served a notice on the landlords of his desire to exercise his rights under Part 1 of the 1967 Act to have the freehold of No. 12. The notice was prepared by solicitors, who used Form 1 prescribed by regulation 3(1) of The Leasehold Reform (Notices) Regulations 1997. Form 1 is "the prescribed form" for the purposes of paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 3, although the combined effect of regulations 2 and 3(1) of the 1997 regulations is that tenants can use either Form 1 or else "a form substantially to the same effect."
The Schedule to Form 1, headed "Particulars Supporting Tenant's Claim", contains nine paragraphs separated by lines and directed to the provision by the tenant of various information. The first six paragraphs are directed towards the provision of the particulars required by paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 3. In order to avoid confusion with references to Schedule 3, I shall refer to the paragraphs in the Schedule to Form 1 as "boxes".
Box 9 has no application to Mr Lascelles's case (or to any of the cases) and it was correctly marked "Not applicable". Of the other eight boxes, there is no dispute that boxes 1, 2 and 5 were completed correctly: the answers identified the house, the property to which the claim extended and the date when Mr Lascelles acquired his tenancy. The judge held that there were deficiencies in the particulars provided in boxes 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. I shall later have to refer specifically to each of these boxes and the information provided in them.
On 21 October 1998, the landlords served on each tenant a notice terminating their tenancies on 1 July 1999 and proposing a new assured monthly periodic tenancy at a rent of £225 a month and otherwise on the terms of their existing leases. Those notices were served under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 10 to the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. Paragraph 7 of the notices informed the tenants of their right under Part 1 of the 1967 Act to serve within two months a notice of their desire to...
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