Notice by one joint tenant

Sims v Dacorum Borough Council and another [2014] UKSC 63, [2014] All ER (D) 126 (Nov);SJ 25 November; NLJ Civil Way by District Judge Stephen Gold, 28 November

In Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council v Monk [1992] 1 AC 478, [1992] 1 All ER 1 the House of Lords held that where a joint tenancy was a periodic tenancy which could be brought to an end by notice to quit, common law dictated that, in the absence of a contractual term to the contrary, the tenancy would be validly determined by service on the landlord of a notice to quit by only one of the joint tenants. And so we have regularly seen one joint tenant spouse alleging domestic violence against the other, giving a unilateral notice to quit under a joint local authority tenancy and thereafter procuring fresh accommodation in their sole name for themselves, leaving the other spouse homeless and obliged to lump it. Of course, if they were astute and prompt enough to apply for a tenancy transfer and an injunction forbidding the giving of notice in the meantime, it could be a different story.