Uratemp Ventures Ltd v Collins
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 02 December 1999 |
| Date | 02 December 1999 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
COURT OF APPEAL
Before Lord Justice Peter Gibson, Lord Justice Mance and Mr Justice Moore Bick.
Housing - whether room a 'dwelling-house' - cooking facilities an essential attribute
Cooking facilities were an essential attribute of a dwelling within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Housing Act 1988.
The Court of Appeal so stated, Lord Justice Mance dissenting on the first appeal, when
(i) allowing the appeal of Uratemp Ventures Ltd against the disnissal by Judge Cotran in West London County Court on January 29, 1999 of its action against Mr John Collins for possession of room 403, Viscount Hotel, Kensington, and declaring Mr Collins to have an assured tenancy under the Housing Act 1988; and
(ii) setting aside the judge's order of January 29, 1999 made on Uratemp's application for possession against Mrs Mary Carrell that she was an assured tenant of room 100, Viscount Hotel, and remitting the case to the county court for a rehearing.
Mr Phillip Galway-Cooper for Uratemp; Mr Richard Vain for Mr Collins; Mr Paul Staddon for Mrs Carrell.
LORD JUSTICE PETER GIBSON said that in issue was whether each room was occupied under a tenancy or licence and whether each room was a dwelling house under section 1(1) of the 1988 Act.
On the first question the crucial matter was whether the occupier had exclusive possession. On the second question it was not in dispute that a single room could be a dwelling-house: see Curl v AngeloUNK((1948) 2 All ER 189) a rent Acts case.
His Lordship did not doubt that the same applied to the term "dwelling house" when used in the 1988 Act.
In Westminster City Council v ClarkeELR ((1992) 2 AC 288, 298) Lord Templeman said:
"Under the rent Acts in order to create a letting of part of a house as a separate dwelling there must be an agreement by which the occupier has exclusive possession of essential living rooms of a separate dwelling house.
"Essential living rooms provide the necessary facilities for living, sleeping and cooking. Thus a bed-sitting room with cooking facilities may be a separate dwelling even though the bathroom and laundry facilities might be elsewhere and shared with other people."
In Parkins v Westminster City CouncilUNK ((1998) 1 EGLR 22), while it might not have been strictly necessary to decide whether cooking facilities were necessary for premises to constitute a dwelling-house, Lord Justice...
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