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Question Title: Possession notice
| Question: 393 |
| I recently served a notice seeking possession under s.8 of the Housing Act on one of my tenants who was in rent arrears. Shortly before the possession hearing, the tenant swiftly offered to bring the rent up to date and presented me with a cheque for the outstanding rent arrears. I do not want the tenancy to continue. Can I refuse to accept the cheque and still continue with the possession action ?
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| Answer: |
| No, the fact that the landlord refuses to accept the latest rent cheque does not mean that the arrears remain. In a recent case (Coltrane v Day, 2003), the Court of Appeal held that "an uncleared cheque delivered to the landlord or his agent at or before the hearing and which is accepted by him, or which he is bound by earlier agreement to accept, is to be treated as payment at the date of delivery provided the cheque is subsequently paid on the first presentation." So, in law, the fact that the tenant has attempted payment by presenting a cheque to the landlord means that the court can assume that the rent is, or is likely to be paid unless the cheque is dishonoured by the bank. The court would be obliged to refuse to grant possession if the possession action was brought under Ground 8 alone. Possession claims can attempt to avoid this pitfall by adding Grounds 10 and 11 to the possession claim (current or persistent rent arrears) or simply by using the section 21 route instead.
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References:
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Pages:
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Hyperlinks:
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Letting Handbook |
Chapter 12 |
letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html
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Letting Factsheet No 8 |
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factsheet-8
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Letting Factsheet No 21 |
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factsheet-21
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For more information, discuss on the Forum
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