Lavinia represented the Local Authority in their claim for possession of a property.
The property had originally been let to Mr and Mrs X. Upon Mr X’s death, Mrs X succeeded to the tenancy, but subsequently died, leaving her son (the Defendant) in the property. The Defendant now claimed that, due to disability and the amount of work he had completed on the property, he should be entitled to stay.
Lavinia highlighted to the District Judge that, since this was a Local Authority house, the Defendant had no right to succeed to the tenancy.
Although the District Judge was very sympathetic towards the Defendant, and attempted to adjourn the case to allow him more time, Lavinia was successful in claiming possession of the property on behalf of the Local Authority. The District Judge accepted her submissions that adjourning the case would not be beneficial to either party nor in line with the overriding objective.
