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‘Property Guardians are Licensees and not Tenants’ rules recent Judgement

We’re delighted to hear that, following a recent judgement Global 100 Ltd v Laleva (2021) EWCA Civ 1835, Property Guardians, even in residential properties, are ruled as licensees and not tenants. This is fantastic news for the sector and very much puts to bed the ‘licensee vs tenant’ argument which has plagued the sector.

The judgement specifies that this is assuming that the terms of the property guardians’ agreement and the context of the agreement (i.e., the arrangement with the property owner) is clear on the function of their occupation – protecting the property. Furthermore, property guardians are prevented in law from disputing the right to possession of the guardian management company, assuming that all the formalities have been met.

This is fantastic news and a significant marker for the property guardian sector, as two major issues have been settled, in favour of guardian firms. This is particularly important for landlords with vacant properties, who are perhaps nervous about the legalities of using property guardians to protect their vacant properties.

If you would like any further information on what this now means for vacant property owners, do contact us today and we’d be happy to talk through our solutions.

For further reading please take a look at Giles Peaker’s excellent analysis of the case.