Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust [2000]

The Borough Council granted a licence of a block of flats to a charitable Housing Trust, for the Trust to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people. The Trust then granted licences allowing individuals to occupy the flats. One of the occupants later argued that although the Trust had purported to grant licences, his agreement with the trust resulted in a tenancy as he had exclusive possession. It is the legal consequences of the agreement that is determinative, rather than the label the parties attach to it (as shown by Street v Mountford [1985]).
The County Court held that the occupant was a licensee, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The Court held that there was no tenancy because the trust was a responsible landlord performing socially valuable functions and had agreed with the council not to grant tenancies. As the Trust had no estate out of which it could grant a tenancy, and the occupant had agreed that he was not to have a tenancy, an agreement to grant exclusive possession could not be a tenancy.

On appeal:
HELD: The House of Lords allowed the appeal, holding that the agreement was a tenancy within section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. The Trust plainly purported to grant a tenancy, as it entered into an agreement on terms which consisted a tenancy. The parties cannot contract out of landlord and tenant statutes by labelling their agreement a licence.

Citation: Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust [2000] 1 AC 406