More results...

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Allocation
ASB
Assured Shorthold tenancy
assured-tenancy
Benefits and care
Deposits
Disrepair
Homeless
Housing Conditions
Housing law - All
Introductory and Demoted tenancies
Leasehold and shared ownership
Licences and occupiers
Mortgage possession
Nuisance
Possession
Regulation and planning
right-to-buy
secure-tenancy
Succession
Trusts and Estoppel
Unlawful eviction and harassment

And the first shall not be last

01/12/2017

London Borough of Haringey v Ahmed & Anor (2017) EWCA Civ 1861

This was Haringey’s appeal of a High Court decision dismissing Haringey’s claim for possession against Ms Ahmed (our report here).  A factual precis is that in 1988 two tenancy agreements were signed. The first by Ms A’s former husband, Mr A, (though with Ms A noted as ‘tenant/2nd person) and then the second, nine days later, by Mr A and his mother Hansa Ahmed (HA) as joint tenants.

Mr A left the property in 2002. Both he and HA wrote to the council asking for the tenancy to be transferred to Ms A and HA jointly. But in 2006 a further tenancy agreement was signed by HA alone. HA left in 2010, initially requesting that the tenancy be transferred to Ms A, then saying that she did not want to assign it. After Ms A requested for a grant of tenancy in lieu of assignment, and was refused, the council served notice to quit on HA and began possession proceedings.

At first instance, the High Court found that Mr A had acted as Ms A’s agent in signing the first tenancy, such that it was a joint tenancy, but he did not have her authority in the apparent surrender and grant of tenancy to Mr A and HA some days later. As the first tenancy had not been surrendered or terminated, Ms A remained the tenant. The second and third tenancy agreements only took effect as concurrent tenancies and had been terminated.

Haringey appealed primarily on the basis that it was not open on the evidence for the judge to make these findings on agency

(1) The judge erred in law in finding that Mr and Ms Ahmed entered into possession of the Property in October 1988 as secure tenants pursuant to the first agreement;
(2) The judge erred in law (or in law and in fact) in holding on the basis of the primary facts found by him that Mr Ahmed had authority to execute the first agreement as agent for his wife;
(3) Alternatively, if ground 2 is rejected, the judge erred in law (or in law and fact) in holding that Mr Ahmed did not also act as agent for his wife in surrendering the first tenancy;
(4) The judge erred in law in failing to consider that the burden of establishing that Mr Ahmed acted as an agent for his wife, and the extent of his agency, rested with Ms Ahmed.

The Court of Appeal noted that the Judge below had inferred an agency agreement from a ‘course of conduct’ in which Ms A had left it to Mr A to find accommodation from the family, stating

the course of conduct in Mr Ahmed securing a series of rented accommodation for the family beforehand with his wife accepting that he could act for her in doing so and trusting him is sufficient to give rise to an implied agency in the renting of the property.

However, the Court of Appeal noted both the Judge’s findings of fact, that Mr A never informed Ms A of any accommodation decisions, that Mr A was the sole homeless applicant, and the evidence of Ms A on cross-examination, that

(1) She had had no involvement in finding accommodation for the family;

(2) She was unaware that Mr Ahmed had applied to the Council as homeless;

(3) She did not know that the Council had offered them a tenancy of the Property;

(4) She did not know about the appointment to sign the first agreement;

(5) She did not know about the appointment to sign the second agreement.

On this evidence, the Court of Appeal concluded

there was no proper evidential basis for the judge’s conclusion that Mr Ahmed was authorised to act and did act as Ms Ahmed’s agent in entering into the first agreement.

On the issue of whether the first tenancy was surrendered, Mr A had signed the second tenancy agreement and this was an unequivocal act inconsistent with the continuation of the first tenancy. The surrender was unequivocally accepted by the council by grant of the second tenancy.

Appeal allowed. A cross appeal on the first instance Court dismissing Ms A’s argument that eviction would be disproportionate was also dismissed as there was no error of law in the Judge’s weighing of factors.

Giles Peaker is a solicitor and partner in the Housing and Public Law team at Anthony Gold Solicitors in South London. You can find him on Linkedin and on Twitter. Known as NL round these parts.

4 Comments

  1. David

    Very interesting case. Number of considerations

    When a couple take out a tenancy they are unlikely to be estranged, but definitely possible that a couple may be so if one party leaves the property.

    The cultural aspect cannot be ignored, some cultures would rarely have input from the wife in legal matters and routinely allow the husband to sign things on their behalf.

    Fundamentally, it seems to me that each individual should be the only person who signs something legal on their own behalf unless they have power of attorney in place.

    If the original tenancy had the wife on it then the Council surely had a duty of care to get them to sign any document that affected her tenancy.

    I have seen HA tenanies that allow any (unnamed) residential partner the tenant takes to obtain rights in the event of the death of tenant, may have been other rights but that is the one I remember.

    Reply
    • Giles Peaker

      No duty of care to a non-tenant. (No duty of care to a tenant, either. It is a meaningless term outside of tort law)

      Yes there are succession rights for partners, but not relevant here.

      Reply
      • David

        I was thinking morally.

        Out of interest, what are rights for Children (almost all adult now).

        Reply
        • Giles Peaker

          For secure tenancies, children used to be able to succeed. Now can’t, unless council has allowed it. For assured tenancies, no succession rights.

Leave a Reply (We can't offer advice on individual issues)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.