[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback] | ||
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
||
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Taylor v Spencer [2013] EWCA Civ 1600 (20 November 2013) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/1600.html Cite as: [2014] HLR 9, [2013] EWCA Civ 1600 |
[New search] [Context] [View without highlighting] [Printable RTF version] [Help]
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Strand,London WC2A 2LL |
||
B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE MCFARLANE
LORD JUSTICE LEWISON
____________________
SPENCER | Appellant | |
v | ||
TAYLOR | Respondent |
____________________
WordWave International Limited
A Merrill Communications Company
165 Fleet Street London EC4A 2DY
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 7404 1424
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
MR I COLVILLE (instructed by HOPKINS SOLICITORS) appeared on behalf of the Appellant
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Wednesday 20 November 2013.
LORD JUSTICE LEWISON:
"Or (b) at the end of your period of tenancy which will end next after the expiration of two months from the service upon you of this notice."
"the date specified in the notice must be the last day of a period of the tenancy, at least two months after the notice is given, no sooner than the earliest day on which the tenancy could ordinarily be brought to an end by a notice to quit."
"(1) Without prejudice to any right of the landlord under an assured shorthold tenancy to recover possession of the dwelling house let on the tenancy in accordance with chapter one above, on or after the coming to an end of an assured shorthold tenancy which was a fixed term tenancy a court shall make an order for the possession of the dwelling house if it is satisfied -
(a) that the assured shorthold tenancy has come to an end and no further assured tenancy, whether shorthold or not, is for the time being in existence other than an assured shorthold periodic tenancy, whether statutory or not and -
(b) the landlord, or in the case of joint landlords at least one of them, has given to the tenant not less than two months notice in writing stating that he requires possession of the dwelling house.
(2) A notice under paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) above may be given before or on the day on which the tenancy comes to an end and that sub-section shall have effect notwithstanding that on the coming to an end of the fixed term tenancy a statutory periodic tenancy arises.
(3) Where a court makes an order for possession of a dwelling house by virtue of sub-section 1 above, any statutory periodic tenancy which has arisen on the coming to an end of the assured shorthold tenancy shall end without further notice and regardless of the period in accordance with section 5(1A).
(4) Without prejudice to any such right as is referred to in sub-section 1 above, a court shall make an order for possession of a dwelling house let on an assured shorthold tenancy which is a periodic tenancy if the court is satisfied -
(a) that the landlord, or in the case of joint landlords at least one of them, has given to the tenant a notice in writing stating that after a date specified in the notice being the last day of a period of the tenancy and not earlier than two months after the date the notice was given, possession of the dwelling house is required by virtue of this section, and -
(b) that the date specified in the notice under paragraph (a) above is not earlier than the earliest day on which, apart from section 5(1) above, the tenancy could be brought to an end by a notice to quit given by the landlord on the same date as the notice under paragraph (a) above.
4A. Where a court makes an order for possession of a dwelling house by virtue of sub-section 4 above, the assured shorthold tenancy shall end in accordance with section 5(1A)."
There is no prescribed form for the purposes of section 21.
"The tenants were granted an assured shorthold tenancy of 15 Avenue Road Extension Leicester for 6 months from 4 September 1999 to 3 March 2000. They remained thereafter as statutory periodic tenants from the 4th of each month to the 3rd of the following month. On 24 October 2002 the landlords gave them a notice headed 'section 21(4)(a) assured shorthold tenancy notice requiring possession - periodic tenancy'. The relevant part read:
"I give you notice that I require possession of the dwelling house known as 15 Avenue Road Extension Leicester on 4 January 2003'."
"Mr Mark James' argument on behalf of the tenants is simple. It must be understood against the background of section 5(1) of the 1988 Act which provides that an assured tenancy cannot be brought to an end by the landlord except by obtaining an order of the court in accordance with chapters 1 or 2 of the Act. Accordingly, the service by the landlord of a notice to quit shall be of no effect in relation to a periodic assured tenancy.
Section 21 is in chapter 2. Section 21(1) as amended by section 191(1) of and paragraph 1(a)(3) of schedule 1 to the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and section 99 of the Housing Act 1996 deals with court orders for possession on or after the coming it an end of an assured shorthold tenancy which was a fixed term tenancy. Section 21(4) deals with court orders for possession where the dwelling is let on an assured shorthold tenancy which is a periodic tenancy as here. Section 21 (4) is without prejudice to any such right as is referred to in sub-section 1 so they are obviously intended to make different provisions from one and other."
"Because of the wording of section 21(4), if an actual date is to be given in the notice it must be the last day of the period of the tenancy and there is an obvious risk of a minor arithmetical error giving rise to the argument that the notice is invalid which no doubt is why the printed form suggests as a possible form of wording that the notice will expire at the end of the period of your tenancy which will end after the expiry of two months from the service upon you of this notice. In my judgment this is a form of words which does meet the requirements of section 21(4) because the tenant knows or can easily an obtain the date referred to."
"It is true that the notice gives two possible termination dates, but only only one complies with the requirements of clause 2(2) of the tenancy agreement and that date, which is Friday 23 February, is the first in time. In my judgment there is no basis for construing the notice so as to exclude the operation of the catch all provision. It was obviously inserted to ensure that the notice expired at the end of a contractual period of the tenancy if that was not Sunday 25 February, and that would have been read by the respondent as intending to terminate the tenancy in accordance with clause 2(2) of the tenancy agreement; Mannai Investment Co. Limited v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co. Limited [1997] AC 749."