Supreme Court to issue key ruling on succession to tenancies

The Supreme Court will tomorrow issue a key ruling on succession to tenancies and the interplay between common law rules and the Housing Act 1985.

The central issue in the case of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council v Hickin is whether on the death of one of two joint tenants of a tenancy which is secure under Part IV of the Housing Act 1985, the tenancy will vest in the resident child of deceased tenant by virtue of the succession provisions in Part IV, rather than the non-resident joint tenant by virtue of the common law doctrine of survivorship.

The background to the case was the council’s letting of a property in Solihull in 1980 to Mr and Mrs Hickin on a weekly tenancy.

The couple lived there with their daughter (the appellant in the case). In around 2001 Mr Hickin left the house after the breakdown of the marriage and did not return.

Mrs Hickin and the daughter continued to live in the house. Mrs Hickin died in 2007, after which Solihull served a notice to quit on Mr Hickin.

The council issued possession proceedings against the daughter, who contended that as the resident daughter of the deceased tenant the tenancy vested in her by virtue of the succession provisions in the 1985 Act, rather than Mr Hickin by virtue of the doctrine of survivorship.

A district judge granted a possession order, but this was overturned by a circuit judge.

The Court of Appeal ruled in the council’s favour in 2010, concluding that a secure tenancy granted jointly to a husband and wife vested on the wife’s death in the husband as sole tenant under the right of survivorship.

The Supreme Court will also rule tomorrow on the correct approach to costs orders against public authorities in fact-finding hearings in child protection proceedings.