ABSTRACT
A tenant should consider whether there is any evidence it can put forward to dispute the landlord’s intention.
Where the landlord establishes a ground of opposition, the court cannot make an order for a new tenancy and must dismiss the tenant’s application (s 31(1) of the 1954 Act). If the tenant lodges an appeal against the court’s decision which is unsuccessful, the tenancy will come to an end three months later, beginning on the date on which the appeal is finally disposed of (s 64 of the 1954 Act). An appeal should not be used merely as a delaying tactic (AJA Smith Transport Ltd v British Railways Board). In Shotley Point Marina (1986) Ltd v Spalding [1997] 1 EGLR 233, CA, the appeal had not been properly lodged and so a subsequent application for leave to extend time was in fact an attempt to start an appeal. However, that application failed. If an extension had been granted, the appeal would have then existed and the tenancy would have ended on the final disposal of that appeal.
