Possession Order Should Not Have Been Suspended

TAJ v ALI (CA LSG 28 April p36)

Prior to a possession hearing the parties resolved their financial difficulties by setting off £10,000 for disrepair against £20,000 arrears plus interest resulting in a consent judgment for the landlord in the sum of £14,503. Because the landlord had allowed the matter to run on for a long time with the arrears mounting up and without any repairs being done the district judge suspended the order for possession on terms that the tenant paid the current rent and £5 per week towards the arrears. In allowing the landlord’s appeal and ordering possession within 28 days the court said a suspended order should be made only when special circumstances existed. It should be for a definite period which did not extend into the mists of time and had some relevance to the facts existing at the date when the order was made. It would take more than 55 years for the arrears to be paid. The judge had attached too much importance to the particular history of the matter and the way the arrears had arisen. The landlord’s failure to carry out repairs had been compensated for by the setting off of £10,000 against the arrears. The judge had paid too little attention to the fundamental purpose of a possession order, which was to enable arrears to be paid off within a reasonable time.