Salvation Army Housing Association v Philip Kelleway
[2024] UKUT 53 (LC)
CHRISTOPHER MOONEY v KAREN VICTORIA WHITELAND
1 February 2023
[2023] EWCA Civ 67
Court of Appeal
A landlord tried to raise the rent, but the official notice had the wrong date. Because the date was wrong, the notice wasn't legally valid, even though the tenant usually paid rent on that day. The court, not a special rent committee, decided this.
Key Facts
- •A weekly tenancy commenced on May 20, 1991, with rent payable weekly on Mondays.
- •The tenant typically paid rent on the preceding Friday.
- •In October 2018, the landlord served a notice to increase rent from £25 to £100 per week, effective Friday, December 7, 2018.
- •The notice used the prescribed Form 4D under the Housing Act 1988, section 13.
- •The lower courts disagreed on the notice's validity.
Legal Principles
A notice to increase rent under a periodic tenancy must, under Section 13(2) of the Housing Act 1988, propose a new rent to take effect at the beginning of a new tenancy period.
Housing Act 1988, Section 13(2)
Statutory notices should be interpreted objectively, as a reasonable recipient would understand them in context (Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd). However, the notice must still fulfil the purpose for which it was given and comply with statutory requirements (Speedwell Estates Ltd v Dalziel; Pease v Carter).
Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd [1997] UKHL 19; Speedwell Estates Ltd v Dalziel [2001] EWCA Civ 1277; Pease v Carter [2020] EWCA Civ 175
The County Court has jurisdiction to determine questions under Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988, unless the Rent Assessment Committee has jurisdiction (Housing Act 1988, Section 40). The Rent Assessment Committee does not have jurisdiction to determine the validity of a Section 13 notice; that remains with the court.
Housing Act 1988, Section 40
Outcomes
The appeal was dismissed.
The court found the landlord's notice to increase rent invalid because the specified effective date (Friday, December 7th) did not comply with Section 13(2) of the Housing Act 1988, as it was not the beginning of a new weekly tenancy period. While the tenant usually paid rent on Fridays, the notice was not unambiguous enough to be interpreted as intending the rent increase to begin on the following Monday. The Rent Assessment Committee lacked jurisdiction to determine the validity of the notice.