Tanner v Tanner [1975] 1 WLR 1346

• Defendant and Plaintiff had children and agreed that a house should be purchased for Defendant and the children. Plaintiff paid for the house and Defendant left her rent-controlled flat to live there.

• Plaintiff later asked Defendant to leave and sued for possession.

• CA awarded Defendant damages, saying that, in all the circumstances, the license was a contractual one, lasting until the children were of school-leaving age. 

Lord Denning MR

• The provision of a place to live was in return for Defendant bringing up children to whom Plaintiff had a duty and in return for which she had agreed to leave her flat protected by the Rents Act legislation.

• It is to be inferred from the circumstances that the duration of the license was to be until the children were capable of looking after themselves, since the purpose of the agreement was to enable the mother to afford them a better upbringing.