Residential Tenancies Rent Act 1977 Notes

RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES - RENT ACT 1977 * "PROTECTED TENANCY" * STATUTORY EXCLUSIONS * SECURITY OF TENURE * RECOVERY OF POSSESSION BY LANDLORD * "PROTECTED TENANCY" • Rented residential accommodation in the private sector. Applies to tenancies created before 15th January 1989 • Replaced by the Housing Act 1988 to which the transitional provisions in s.34 (next slide) apply • "protected tenancy" is the Rent Act 1977's baby. Transitional Provisions - s.34 Housing Act 1988 (1) A tenancy which is entered into on or after the commencement of this Act cannot be a protected tenancy, unless— (a) it is entered into in pursuance of a contract made before the commencement of this Act; or (b) it is granted to a person (alone or jointly with others) who, immediately before the tenancy was granted, was a protected or statutory tenant and is so granted by the person who at that time was the landlord (or one of the joint landlords) under the protected or statutory tenancy; or (c) it is granted to a person (alone or jointly with others) in the following circumstances— (i) prior to the grant of the tenancy, an order for possession of a dwelling-house was made against him (alone or jointly with others) on the court being satisfied as mentioned in section 98(1)(a) of, or Case 1 in Schedule 16 to, the Rent Act 1977 or Case 1 in Schedule 4 to the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 (suitable alternative accommodation available); and (ii) the tenancy is of the premises which constitute the suitable alternative accommodation as to which the court was so satisfied; and (iii) in the proceedings for possession the court considered that, in the circumstances, the grant of an assured tenancy would not afford the required security and, accordingly, directed that the tenancy would be a protected tenancy; or (d) it is a tenancy under which the interest of the landlord was at the time the tenancy was granted held by the Commission for the New Towns or a development corporation, within the meaning of section 80 of the Housing Act 1985, and, before the date which has effect by virtue of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 38 below, ceased to be so held by virtue of a disposal by the Commission for the New Towns made pursuant to a direction under section 37 of the New Towns Act 1981. What is a protected tenancy? • S.1 Rent Act 1977 Subject to this Part of this Act, a tenancy under which a dwelling-house (which may be a house or part of a house) is let as a separate dwelling is a protected tenancy for the purposes of this Act. Any reference in this Act to a protected tenant shall be construed accordingly. "tenancy" • May be periodic or fixed-term, legal or equitable, granted by a freeholder or a subtenancy. Also tenant at will and tenant at sufferance will fall within the Act (Chamberlain v Farr (1942); Artizans, Labourers and General Dwellings v Witaker (1919)) "dwelling-house" • Courts have adopted a flexible approach - key question being whether the premises in question are the 'home' of any person. A home being a place where a person 'moves and has his being', where he or she carries out the basic activities of living such as sleeping, eating a cooking. "let" • Necessary that a quantifiable rent be paid - if the rent payable is not quantifiable in money terms this aspect of the act would be inoperable (Barnes v Barratt)

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