Renting Homes: The Final Report - Law Commission

(2) Ground H applies where a joint contract-holder has withdrawn from the
contract or been excluded from the contract, and either the
accommodation is more extensive than the remaining contract-holders
need, or (where the landlord is a community landlord) the remaining
contract-holder(s) do not meet the landlord’s criteria for allocating
housing accommodation. A landlord seeking to use this ground must
serve the requisite possession notice within six months from the date on
which the joint contract-holder withdrew or was excluded. 96
4.83 Both these cases could involve some quite difficult choices in balancing the
public and private interest. Thus in determining whether or not it is reasonable for
the judge to make an order for possession in such a case, there are specific
provisions relating to how the judge’s discretion should be structured in such
cases. 97
JOINT CONTRACTS – TERMINATION
4.84 Our general objective in relation to joint contracts is that each joint contractholder
should as far as possible be treated as an individual. We have therefore
made special provision to deal with a number of issues that arise in practice
where the present law is unclear or unsatisfactory. The topics we consider here
are:
(1) termination by the joint contract-holder;
(2) termination by the landlord;
(3) termination by other joint contract-holders.
4.85 The objective of the provisions is to enable all parties – landlords and other joint
contract-holders – to know where they stand in relation to their rights and
obligations.
Termination by the joint contract-holder
4.86 The following rules adapt for joint contract-holders the rules, discussed above, 98
which relate to sole contract-holders.
96 Cl 186(5).
97 Sch 7 paras 11 and 12. Discussed in detail in Part 5 below.
98 See paras 4.21 to 4.29.
82