Legal Cases Round-up – November 2021

As a landlord or letting agent, you need to be aware of important legal case decisions (known as ‘case law’) which can affect the way legislation is interpreted.

This roundup follows on from our past round-up in March.  We list new cases since then which have been added to the Landlord Law Legal Cases reports, along with earlier cases that have been added to Landlord Law since the March roundup.

New cases since March 2021

To find out more about each case, click the link which (if you are a logged-in Landlord Law member) will take you to the case report.

• Aviva v Williams [2021] – This considers whether s.27A(6) of the  Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 rendered void a provision within a residential long lease which entitled the landlord to vary the initial fixed service charge proportions payable by leaseholders
• Gurusinghe v Drumlin Ltd [2021] – This case is about the time limit for substituting a different party into a rent repayment order case.
• Rakusen v Jepsen [2021] update – This case is about who is liable to pay a rent repayment order imposed in respect of an HMO property being sublet to tenants – the head landlord or the immediate landlord?  (Note that this case may be appealed to the Supreme Court)
• Williams v Parmar & Ors [2021]— This case is about the amount awarded to tenants of an unlicensed HMO and whether a landlord’s behaviour changes the amount awarded in an RRO.

Older cases

The following cases are older cases which have been added to the Landlord Law case reports since March.

• Triplerose Limited v Beattie & Beattie [2020] – This is a case about whether a covenant prohibiting business use within a tenancy agreement can be applied to a house being sublet for short term letting on sites such as booking.com and Airbnb.
• Duval v 11-13 Randolph Crescent Ltd [2018] — This is a case on whether a landlord is entitled to grant an altercation of works license when this would breach an absolute covenant within the lease.
• Laine and Mitchell v Cadwallader & Cadwallader [2001] — This is a court case regarding implied surrender during a periodic tenancy by the tenants.
• Bagettes Ltd v GP estates co Ltd [1956] — This is a case looking at lease renewals and whether a tenant who has sublet a block of flats would qualify for business lease renewal under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

Landlord Law members will find further details on all cases in the Landlord Law Cases section.