A House Is A Dwelling, Not An Office Or Hotel Says Supreme Court

John Stephenson, Senior Partner at BDB, believes that the Supreme Court ruling that a house in English law must involve a substantial element which is used or usable as a residential dwelling is one of the most decisive, unequivocal rulings he has ever seen.

In its decision allowing the landlord's appeals from the "reluctant "decisions of the Court of Appeal that buildings which were originally houses but had subsequently been adapted wholly to other uses could be enfranchised under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, the Court has firmly rejected the notion of "once a house, always a house", no matter what the use of the property at the time of the claim.

"The judgement is striking for its clarity - there is no doubt or hesitation in it as it resists, both on policy and legal grounds, the notion that buildings having...