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Article:
Ending a residential tenancy on the
ground of "false statement by the tenant"
The Housing Act 1988 as amended by the
Housing Act 1996 makes provision for the possession of residential
properties let under Assured and Assured Shorthold
Tenancies.
However, a landlord can only bring a
residential tenancy to an end by obtaining a court
order for possession.
One very useful ground for
possession for landlords is ground 17,
a mandatory one of "false statement by
tenant". This can be used in certain
circumstances.
Possession
(and eviction) can only be carried out under certain specified
circumstances, or "grounds
for possession"
some of which are mandatory and some discretionary.
Where the proven ground is mandatory,
the court has no option but to award possession of the
property to the landlord and therefore evicts the tenant.
Where the ground is discretionary,
eviction is at the discretion of the court depending on
all the surrounding circumstances: in other words the
judge will decide whether or not to evict.
Landlords need to bear in mind that
the courts tend to be sympathetic to tenants in
difficult circumstances.
Landlords should also realise that
local authorities, housing benefits offices and Citizens
Advice Bureau will advise tenants not to leave the tenancy
voluntarily as the tenants may not be re-housed if they
voluntarily make themselves homeless.
On discretionary grounds, courts
will often make allowances for tenants who are in debt or
out of work etc., and may not necessarily award
possession, or the judge may delay the possession
order for a long period to give the tenant/s more time.
Courts may also award the costs
to the landlord where it is felt that the tenant
cannot be held to be fully culpable given all the
circumstances.
Ground 17 - false statements,
can be used where it can be proven that a landlord or
agent was induced to grant a tenancy by a false statement
made knowingly or recklessly by the tenant, or
someone acting on her behalf.
With regard to ground 17 in
particular, the importance of using a Tenancy
Application form cannot be over emphasized.
If the tenant makes substantial
false statements on her application form,
statements which could to be judged to have been unfair in
the way they have induced the granting of the tenancy,
then the landlord has good evidence for the granting of a
possession order.
Because this is a discretionary
ground the court would take several factors into
account:
- The nature and seriousness
of the false statement
- Was the statement fundamental
to the granting of the tenancy
- How seriously did the landlord
take the information when he discovered the truth?
- Did the landlord act immediately
on discovering the truth ? or,
- Did the landlord diminish its
importance by delaying action ?
When a false statement is involved,
a fully completed Tenancy
Application form will normally give the landlord all
the evidence he need to use ground 17 successfully.
©
LandlordZONE 2006 |
