Landlord & tenant

The grant of a tenancy, including an assured tenancy, created a property interest in the tenant which was an incumbrance on the landlord’s title. An order for possession was a remedy which restored to the landlord full proprietary rights, including rights of occupation and letting. The failure to pay rent was a breach of a contractual obligation. Neither forfeiture, nor a court order for possession, nor recovery of possession by the landlord, nor an order for bankruptcy, eliminated the personal indebtedness constituted by the rent arrears.

It followed, as a matter of general principle, that an order for possession of property, whether let under an ordinary contractual tenancy or a secure or assured tenancy, was not a remedy “in respect of” the debt represented by the rent arrears which gave the landlord an entitlement to the order for possession.