Joint Tenancies and Notices to Quit after Leeds City Council v Price

Martin Iller Solicitor and Deputy District Judge. On marriage or relationship breakdown joint tenants of rented accommodation might assume that they continue to enjoy security of tenure. However this security is fragile once a spouse or partner leaves and seeks re-housing. If that individual gives notice to quit even though this is without the knowledge or consent of the other the tenancy will come to an end and that tenant will have no defence to a possession claim. Not only that the notice will frequently have been encouraged by the landlord who faced with a tenant who seeks re-housing (often in circumstances where domestic violence is alleged) lacks the resources or the inclination to provide separate homes for each portion of the broken family. Although this would appear to go against everything that has been said about fair allocation of assets in White v White [1998] 2 FLR 310 and Miller v Miller; McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] UKHL 24 [2006] 1 FLR 1186 the House of Lords in following nineteenth Century decisions on property law has left the 'ambushed joint...

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