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Sims v Dacorum Borough Council [2014] UKSC 63

This case related to a joint assured secure tenancy that had become periodic.  The tenants were a married couple, Mr and Mrs Sims, who split up and Mrs Sims sought to end the letting.  Mr Sims, the joint tenant, remained in the property and claimed he was entitled to continue the tenancy.

It was  concluded that Mr Sims was unable to remain in the property based on the findings of an earlier case of Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v. Monk [1992], it was established that in common law, a periodic joint residential tenancy is terminated automatically if one joint tenant, even without the concurrence of the other joint tenant, serves a notice to quit.

Mr Sims appealed to the Circuit Judge who granted permission for a leapfrog appeal to the Court of Appeal.  Mr Sims argued

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council v Hickin [2012] UKSC39

Mr and Mrs Hickin had rented a property for 45 years as a couple.  The couple had been separated for years but the wife continued to live at the property.  When Mrs Hickin died her adult daughter was left alone in the property which she shared with her daughter.  The council served a notice to quit on Mr Hickin as he was the surviving joint tenant.  The daughter claimed that she was the surviving tenant from her mother.

It was held that

A married couple were joint tenants of a property let by the landlord Housing Trust as a periodic tenancy. The tenancy was terminable on four weeks notice. The wife later left the property and, on the advice of the landlord, served a notice to quit terminating the tenancy. She did not consult with her husband before doing so. The tenancy was determined, and the landlord relied on the notice to quit when seeking possession.

At trial, the husband argued that as the joint tenancy had been held under a trust for land, his wife had acted in breach of trust as he was a beneficiary of the trust and she had not consulted him. He said that the giving of the notice was a ‘function’ of the trustee of land, and section 11 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 requires trustees of land to consult with beneficiaries before executing a relevant function.

The judge

A joint tenancy was granted by the council to joint tenants in 1994. In 1996, the claimant joint tenant gave notice to the council’s housing benefit department that her joint tenant would be leaving, and asked for her housing benefit to be increased so that it covered all of the rent. The council refused to either increase the benefit or to treat the claimant as a sole tenant of the property, as the flat had three bedrooms and was needed to accommodate families. However, the departing joint tenant completed a deed of release, releasing her interest to the claimant tenant. The claimant tenant then sought a declaration that she had become the sole tenant of her council flat.

HELD: The House of Lords [...]

A married couple were joint assured tenants of a flat owned by Newlon Housing Trust. The wife left the husband, and then gave notice to quit the tenancy. The husband stayed in the property, and the Trust commenced proceedings for possession. The husband asked for the proceedings to be adjourned to enable him to make an application for a property adjustment order, under which the tenancy would be in his sole name. The judge refused an adjournment as he held that the application was out of time.

The Court of Appeal

A tenancy was held by two joint tenants. One of the joint tenants gave notice to the landlord (the council) to terminate the tenancy, but did not inform the other tenant of this. The uninformed tenant did not leave the property, and the council sought possession of the property.

HELD: The House of Lords [...]