An Essex woman has gone to court in an attempt to force her council landlords to spend tens of thousands of pounds repairing the property that she occupies, and which she admits to having allowed to fall into disrepair.
If Basildon Council do the work, the woman then intends to use right-to-buy laws to force them to sell the repaired property to her at a reduced price.
The case centres on the status of a variation in the original terms of Gladys Tomkins tenancy of premises at Brunswick, Lower Dunton Road, Bulphan, Essex.
When she took up the lease of the premises in 1978, it came under the terms of a business tenancy, and she used the property to run a greyhound kennelling business. In 1990, business use ceased and Ms Tomkins began using the property for residential use only.
In 2001, Southend County Court ruled that the change of use had been by the mutual consent of Ms Tomkins and the council, and that, in the eyes of the law, the original 1978 lease had been varied rather than a new one having been granted.
Ms Tomkins claims that the council granted her a new lease, which entitles her to demand that the repair work be carried out. Provisions in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 impose a repairing obligation upon landlords in respect of leases of less than seven years, but do not apply to leases going back as far as 1978. In such circumstances, if the courts take the view that Ms Tomkins tenancy is based upon the original lease, she cannot demand that the repairs be carried out.
Tomkins v Basildon District Council Court of Appeal (Latham LJ Hart J) 28 May 2002.
PLS News 29/05/02
