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Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

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espect to <strong>the</strong> part not surrendered. In effect, an apporti<strong>on</strong>ment <strong>of</strong> rent<strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r obligati<strong>on</strong>s should be made in such cases, by <strong>the</strong> court ifnecessary. 91 This matter is also c<strong>on</strong>sidered later. 92F Assignments2.28 Secti<strong>on</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> Deasy’s Act purports to govern <strong>the</strong> ways inwhich a tenancy can be assigned or transmitted. It provides asfollows:“The estate or interest <strong>of</strong> any tenant in any l<strong>and</strong>s under anylease or o<strong>the</strong>r c<strong>on</strong>tract <strong>of</strong> tenancy shall be assigned, granted,or transmitted by deed executed, or instrument in writingsigned by <strong>the</strong> party assigning or granting <strong>the</strong> same, or hisagent <strong>the</strong>reto lawfully authorised in writing, or by devise,bequest, or act <strong>and</strong> operati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> law, <strong>and</strong> not o<strong>the</strong>rwise …” 93This seems to be an exhaustive provisi<strong>on</strong> which requires use <strong>of</strong> awritten instrument for assignments <strong>of</strong> all tenancies, ie, even thosevalidly created initially without any writing, such as periodictenancies <strong>and</strong> tenancies for fixed terms not exceeding <strong>on</strong>e year. 94 Atfirst sight it may appear anomalous that a tenancy which can becreated orally can <strong>on</strong>ly be assigned to some<strong>on</strong>e else by deed or o<strong>the</strong>rinstrument in writing. 95 However, it is arguable that while it may berelatively easy for <strong>the</strong> original tenant to establish that a grant <strong>of</strong> atenancy was made orally, because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> direct relati<strong>on</strong>ship between9192939495Danville v Ward (1865) 16 ICLR 381; Persse v Malcolms<strong>on</strong> (1871) IR 5CL 572.Paragraph 8.05 below.The remaining wording dealt with <strong>the</strong> situati<strong>on</strong> where <strong>the</strong> tenant diesintestate as to his interest in <strong>the</strong> tenancy. This is now dealt with by <strong>the</strong>Successi<strong>on</strong> Act 1965 which repealed <strong>the</strong> wording in secti<strong>on</strong> 9: see secti<strong>on</strong> 8<strong>and</strong> Sec<strong>on</strong>d Schedule, Part III <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1965 Act.See <strong>the</strong> trenchant views <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Supreme Court in Foley v Galvin [1932] IR339, drawing attenti<strong>on</strong> to <strong>the</strong> words “or o<strong>the</strong>r c<strong>on</strong>tract <strong>of</strong> tenancy”. Doubtsabout whe<strong>the</strong>r a tenancy at will is assignable at all (see Wylie op citparagraph 4.29) need not be c<strong>on</strong>sidered since <strong>the</strong> Commissi<strong>on</strong> has earliertaken <strong>the</strong> view that such “tenancies” should no l<strong>on</strong>ger be regarded ascreating <strong>the</strong> relati<strong>on</strong>ship <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>lord <strong>and</strong> tenant: see paragraph 1.24 above.A similar distincti<strong>on</strong> exists in Engl<strong>and</strong>: see Crago v Julian [1992] 1 All ER744; Camden L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> Borough Council v Alex<strong>and</strong>rou (1997) 74 P & CR D33; Parc Battersea Ltd v Hutchins<strong>on</strong> [1999] 2 EGLR 33.51

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