‘On 22nd January the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of Faiz v Burnley Borough Council (2021) EWCA Civ 55. Judgment dismissing the appeal was given by Lewison LJ; with whom Arnold and Asplin LLJs agreed. The case came on appeal from the decision of HHJ Halliwell (2020) EWHC 407 (Ch).’
Nearly Legal, 26th January 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The tenants (Claimants) had a twenty-year lease of 89 Narborough Road, Leicester (Property) which commenced on 12 March 2008. The Property consisted of a lock-up shop on the ground floor with residential accommodation above. The Claimants mistakenly paid only £1,500 of the £2,000 quarterly instalment of rent that fell due in June 2018, leaving arrears of £500.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 14th October 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
‘Two cases this year demonstrate the court’s approach to claims for relief from the forfeiture rule. The first case concerns Sandra Amos’ claim following her conviction of causing the death of her husband by careless driving. The second follows the case of Sally Challen, initially convicted of the murder of her husband. Mrs Challen’s conviction was subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal and her guilty plea to manslaughter was later accepted by the Crown.’
Radcliffe Chambers, 7th October 2020
Source: radcliffechambers.com
‘Keshwala & Anor v Bhalsod & Anor (2020) EWHC 2372 (QB). An appeal from a Circuit Judge’s decision refusing relief from forfeiture, focussing on the issue of delay in making the application for relief. This was a commercial lease, though with living accommodation above. Mr Keshwala had taken a 20 year lease of the property in 2008. In 2015, the current freeholder had bought the freehold. Also in 2015, the rent first fell into arrears. The freeholder forfeited by re-entry and Mr K obtained relief from forfeiture on payment of arrears and costs.’
Nearly Legal, 4th October 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The “flexible tenancy” was the latest, and mercifully the last, in a long line of new “tenancies” created by Parliament to address perceived deficiencies within social housing. The flexible tenancy is a fixed term secure tenancy that is capable of determination at the end of its term by not becoming a secure periodic tenancy. Its purpose was to enable a greater churn of social housing and to ensure that such housing went to those tenants in greatest housing need. The flexible tenancy did not prove popular—there are said to be only 30,000 flexible tenancies in existence—and Parliament’s proposal to make such tenancies mandatory (under the Housing and Planning Act 2016) has never been brought into force.’
Tanfield Chambers, 11th August 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘A landlord under a fixed-term flexible tenancy did not have any right to determine the tenancy prior to the expiry of the fixed term because the tenancy agreement did not contain a forfeiture clause. The tenancy did not fall within the ambit of s82(1)(b) Housing Act 1985 and the landlord could only seek possession under s107D at the end of the fixed term.’
Tanfield Chambers, 30th June 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic Parliament has been, and continues to be, very active. This note provides a quick update in relation to the latest developments on four fronts: (1) forfeiture; (2) CRAR; (3) insolvency; (4) planning.’
Falcon Chambers, 29th June 2020
Source: www.falcon-chambers.com
‘It is a basic rule of English law that a person who kills someone should not inherit from their victim. The justification behind the rule, known as the forfeiture rule, is that a person should not benefit from their crimes and therefore forfeits entitlement. Many other jurisdictions have the same basic rule for fundamental reasons of public policy, including the need to avoid incentivising homicide. Importantly, however, Parliament passed the Forfeiture Act 1982 to give courts in England and Wales discretion to modify the application of the rule in certain cases, so that some people could inherit from those they had killed after all. Such modification is also possible in some other jurisdictions: It allows judges to consider individual circumstances where the blanket application of a forfeiture rule would cause injustice.’
OUP Blog, 3rd July 2020
Source: blog.oup.com
‘An Upper Tribunal appeal of an FTT decision that the leaseholder, Ms M, was in breach of lease, and specifically a restriction “Not to do or permit or suffer in or upon the Demised Premises or any part thereof any illegal or immoral act or any act or thing which may be or may become a nuisance or annoyance or cause damage to the Lessors or the tenants of the Lessor or the occupiers of any part of the Building.”’
Nearly Legal, 1st July 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The High Court in Faiz considered the interrelationship between a landlord’s knowledge and the date of accrual of a tenant’s liability and their effect on waiver of forfeiture.’
St Ives Chambers, June 2020
Source: www.stiveschambers.co.uk
‘The recent case of Faiz & Ors v Burnley Borough Council [2020] EWHC 407 (Ch) provides clarity on a tricky practical issue: when can a landlord accept monies after it gains knowledge of its right to forfeit?’
Hardwicke Chambers, 17th June 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
‘A flexible tenancy is a species of secure tenancy which is granted for a fixed term of at least two years (s.107A-D, Housing Act 1985). At the end of the fixed term, the landlord has a mandatory ground for possession (s.107D). During the fixed term, commentators have differed on how the landlord can terminate the tenancy. In Flexible Tenancies and Forfeiture, [2014] Journal of Housing Law 17 (Andrew Dymond), it was suggested that the tenancy needed to include a forfeiture clause and the fixed term needed to be terminated by way of forfeiture (see s.82(3), 1985 Act). By contrast, in In a Fix New Law Journal, 29 June 2012 (Jon Holbrook), it was suggested that a flexible tenancy could be determined in the same manner as a periodic secure tenancy, i.e. by the landlord obtaining and executing an order for possession.’
Landmark Chambers, 2nd June 2020
Source: www.landmarkchambers.co.uk
‘On 15 August 2010 Sally Challen beat her husband to death with a hammer, wrapped him in a curtain before washing the dishes and driving home. She was convicted of murder on 23 June 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment, but last year that conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. Before the retrial the Crown accepted a guilty plea to a lesser charge of Manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, and Mrs Challen was released, having already served her sentence. The Forfeiture rule prevented her inheriting her husband’s estate or taking their joint assets by succession, and in September 2019 she issued proceedings under the Forfeiture Act 1982 for relief.’
New Square Chambers, June 2020
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
A landlord cannot determine a flexible tenancy prior to the expiry of its fixed term without a forfeiture clause even in the event of default by the tenant, the High Court has ruled.
Local Government Lawyer, 4th June 2020
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘In this recent case, described by the presiding judge HHJ Matthews as “extraordinary [with] a fatal combination of conditions and events”, relief from forfeiture was granted despite the applicant having pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a resulting sentence of over nine years of imprisonment.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 29th May 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
‘In January 2019 Mrs Amos, aged 74, was driving with her husband near their home in Llandeilo, when they collided with the car in front. Her husband later died from his injuries and Mrs Amos pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was given a suspended prison sentence and disqualified from driving. The question arose whether she was prevented from benefitting under her husband’s will, or from receiving by survivorship his share of their home, which was owned as beneficial joint tenants.’
New Square Chambers, 12th May 2020
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘Sally Challen’s case has become well known in recent years, as a miscarriage of justice that resulted in a woman spending years behind bars for an offence she did not commit. The facts were not in dispute. In August 2010 she had reconciled with Richard, her partner and husband of forty years, after previously leaving the matrimonial home and starting divorce proceedings. Over lunch, she beat him to death with a hammer. Subsequently dissuaded from committing suicide, she was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, with the prosecution describing her as jealous and possessive, and the jury rejecting her defence of diminished responsibility. In 2019 the Court of Appeal allowed her appeal, quashed her conviction, and directed a re-trial to reconsider the defences of diminished responsibility and provocation, in the light of new expert evidence about the effect of coercive control in a relationship. Richard had behaved appallingly towards Slly during their relationship. Finally in September 2019 the Crown accepted the plea that Sally Challen had offered throughout, that of guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Edis J sentenced her to 9 years and 4 months imprisonment, with the effect that she was immediately released.’
St John's Chambers, 28th May 2020
Source: www.stjohnschambers.co.uk
‘The procedure by which a landlord may recover arrears of rent in relation to commercial premises was fundamentally changed several years ago. Chapter 2 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 abolished the common law right to distrain for arrears of rent, replacing it with the commercial rent arrears recovery procedure (‘CRAR’). But what has been the impact of this change on whether a landlord taking enforcement action to recover arrears waived his right to forfeiture of a lease?’
Tanfield Chambers, 9th April 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘The Coronavirus Act 2020 has put a hold on any existing residential possession proceedings for a period of 90 days and extended the notice period required as a precursor for any new residential possession to three months (section 81 of the Act and Practice Direction 51Z) and removed the right of re-entry or forfeiture for business tenancies for non-payment of rent until (at present) the 30th June 2020 (section 82).’
Becket Chambers, 3rd April 2020
Source: becket-chambers.co.uk
‘In recent years the rise of e-commerce has challenged the traditional High Street model as we know it. The high attrition rates on the High Street have been widely reported. For those retailers who have sought to avoid closing their businesses, Company Voluntary Agreements (“CVA’s”) have become popular in order to allow shops to keep trading.’
3PB, 9th April 2020
Source: www.3pb.co.uk
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