AG Securities v Vaughan (1988) 3 WLR 1205
In this case there were several agreements for joint occupation of a furnished flat. The fact in issue was whether or not the occupiers enjoyed exclusive occupation. Each agreement provided that each individual occupier was to share with up to three other persons nominated by the landlord, and stated that only a licence was conferred on each occupant. However, it was clear that the entire point of the agreement being drafted in this form was to avoid the Rent Acts.
The four occupants acquired their contractual rights to occupy the 4 bedroom flat. There were separate agreements with the appellants made at different times and different payment terms but otherwise on identical terms. Each agreement ran for six months and in some cases was continued on a month to month basis, but it seems clearly to have been assumed that occupants would come and go.
When there was a vacancy was that the landlord had the final say in who was to replace the occupier who had left, but he consulted with the other occupiers who had the last say.
The Cout of Appeal held that the occupants had exclusive possession. The landlord could only nominate up to three co-habitants, so that once the fourth occupant had moved in he was unable to nominate anyone else to share. On this view the joint tenancy came into existence only when the fourth occupant moved in. The mechanism suggested was a single implied agreement at this time, in order to satisfy the four unities required for a joint tenancy. The decision was also dependent on fact that rent is not an essential constituent of a lease, so that it did not follow that if one of the co-habitiants had moved out the others would become liable for the whole of the rent.
The decison was appealed and in the House of Lords it was held that they had no exclusive occupation on the basis that if there was a joint tenancy, on the death of one of the occupants, the remaining three would be entitled to joint and exclusive occupation.
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