The law lords are to rule on whether a tenant has leave to appeal after the Court of Appeal upheld a possession order against him on the grounds of bankruptcy.
The appeal court, in Cadogan Estates Ltd v McMahon, upheld the order on the basis of a statutory tenant’s bankruptcy. The court said that the tenants bankruptcy constituted a breach of a statutory tenancy obligation under the terms of the Rent Act 1977.
The tenant, Roderick McMahon, who is challenging the ruling, became a statutory tenant following the expiry of a lease that contained a forfeiture provision for bankruptcy.
He was made bankrupt in March 1998, and the landlord claimed possession on the grounds of that bankruptcy. McMahon claimed that while a bankruptcy would have entitled the landlord to forfeit the previous lease, it did not entitle him to do so under the statutory tenancy.
In the Court of Appeal Laws LJ said that the bankruptcy provision in the original lease was consistent with an “obligation” for the purposes of a statutory tenancy, and dismissed McMahon’s appeal against the possession order.
The law lords have now put on hold until 19 November the question of whether to grant leave for an appeal against that decision in order to give Cadogan an opportunity to object to the application.
PLS News 11/11/99
