PART 3PROVISIONS APPLYING TO ALL OCCUPATION CONTRACTS
CHAPTER 5JOINT CONTRACT-HOLDERS AND JOINT LANDLORDS
Joint contract-holders
48Joint contract-holders: joint liability etc.
1
If there are two or more joint contract-holders under an occupation contract, each joint contract-holder is fully liable to the landlord for the performance of every obligation owed to the landlord under the contract.
2
References in this Act to the contract-holder, except where otherwise provided, are to the joint contract-holders.
3
Subsection (2) applies even if the occupation contract is a tenancy and the leasehold estate is vested in one or more, but not all, of the joint contract-holders.
49Adding a joint contract-holder
1
The contract-holder under an occupation contract and another person may, with the consent of the landlord, make that person a joint contract-holder under the contract.
2
If a person is made a joint contract-holder under this section he or she becomes entitled to all the rights and subject to all the obligations of a contract-holder under the contract from the day on which he or she becomes a joint contract-holder.
3
This section is a fundamental provision which is incorporated as a term of all occupation contracts.
50Adding a joint contract-holder: landlord’s consent
Where a landlord refuses consent or consents subject to conditions to adding a joint contract-holder under section 49, what is reasonable for the purposes of section 84 (landlord’s consent) is to be determined having regard to Schedule 6.
51Adding a joint contract-holder: formalities
1
The addition of a joint contract-holder under an occupation contract may be effected only by a document signed or executed by each of the parties to the transaction.
2
If the contract requires the landlord’s consent to the addition, the document must also be signed or executed by the landlord.
3
But subsection (2) does not apply if the landlord is treated as having consented under section 84(6), (8) or (10).
Joint contract-holders: survivorship
52Joint contract-holder ceasing to be a party to the occupation contract
1
If a joint contract-holder under an occupation contract dies, or ceases to be a party to the contract for some other reason, from the time he or she ceases to be a party the remaining joint contract-holders are—
a
fully entitled to all the rights under the contract, and
b
liable to perform fully every obligation owed to the landlord under the contract.
2
The joint contract-holder is not entitled to any right or liable to any obligation in respect of the period after he or she ceases to be a party to the contract.
3
Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) removes any right or waives any liability of the joint contract-holder accruing before he or she ceases to be a party to the contract.
4
This section does not apply where a joint contract-holder ceases to be a party to the contract because his or her rights and obligations under the contract are transferred in accordance with the contract.
5
This section is a fundamental provision which is incorporated as a term of all occupation contracts; section 20 provides that this section—
a
must be incorporated, and
b
must not be incorporated with modifications.
Joint landlords
53Joint landlords
1
This section applies if two or more persons jointly constitute the landlord under an occupation contract.
2
Each of them is fully liable to the contract-holder for the performance of every obligation owed to the contract-holder under the contract.
3
References in this Act to the landlord are to the persons who jointly constitute the landlord.