Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust [1999] UKHL 26<\/strong><\/p>\n Property law \u2013 Landlord and tenant \u2013 Leases<\/em><\/p>\n The defendant was a voluntary housing trust that focussed on homelessness. The local authority had granted the trust a licence to use short-life properties as temporary accommodation for homeless people who were on the waiting list for a home, before these properties were later developed. B signed an agreement to use one of the properties on a weekly licence. The contract stated that B would have to vacate the premises upon receipt of reasonable notice. B later brought proceedings that the trust was in breach of implied terms to keep the premises in good working order. The key issue was whether B would be considered as a tenant or licensee under the circumstances. The trial judge found that B was a licensee and B\u2019s appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. B appealed again<\/p>\n It was important for the court to consider the nature of the trust, as a landlord, and the construction of the agreement between the parties. Specifically, the trust submitted that B had acknowledged that one of the terms in the agreement between the parties was that B did not have the status of being a tenant and was only a licensee.<\/p>\n The court found that as the trust had granted B exclusive possession of the property; this had created a tenancy agreement. The court also found that the nature of the landlord did not come into question. It did not matter that B had contracted to understand that the agreement was not a tenancy agreement as the trust could not contract out of the relevant statute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The defendant was a voluntary housing trust that focussed on homelessness. The local authority had granted the trust a licence to use short-life properties as temporary accommodation for homeless people who were on the waiting list for a home, before these properties were later developed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-5751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"\nFacts<\/h3>\n
Issue<\/h3>\n
Decision \/ Outcome<\/h3>\n