Cases - Barker v Levinson

Record details

Name

Barker v Levinson

Date

[1951]

Citation

1 KB 342

Legislation

Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949

Keywords

Estate agency - Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949

Summary

An agent of a company which owned a block of flats had authority to undertake the letting of the flats. The agent employed a rent collector. He authorised the rent collector to let a particular flat to a certain person if he found that she was a satisfactory tenant. The rent collector granted the tenancy on condition that a premium was paid. The payment of a premium was contrary to section 2(1) of the Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949 and the agent was charged with an offence under the Act. It was not proven that the agent knew of or authorised the premium. The money may have been pocketed by the rent collector.

Lord Chief Justice Goddard held that the agent was not criminally liable for the act of the rent collector. The rent collector was not acting within the scope of his employment, the authority delegated to him being limited to satisfying himself that a certain person was a satisfactory tenant and then to letting the flat to her. He was not authorised or entitled to negotiate terms and was not in the position of a general agent responsible for the management of the flats. The result might have been different if he had been in such a position.