South Lodge Flats Ltd (claimant/reespondent) v Malik & ors (Part 20 Defendants/appellants)

Wednesday 23 March 2022

Second appeal.

The Second, Third and Fourth Part 20 Defendants (the Appellants)  appeal the order of Meade J sitting as a High Court Judge dated 17 May 2021 by which he ordered that `save as aforesaid, there be no order for costs’.

The Claimant is South Lodge Flats Limited and is the landlord of the Respondent. The Respondent is Iftikhar Ahmad Malik and is the registered legal owner of a long lease dated 6 December 1978 of the Flat. The Appellants and Part 20 Defendants are the brother of the Respondent and the First Appellant’s sons and are the occupiers of the Flat.

On 17 November 2017 the Claimant brought a claim for the purpose of investigating the source of a leak allegedly emanating from the Flat. The Respondent then brought the additional Part 20 Claim – a claim for possession of the Flat made against the Applicants. The Part 20 Claim for possession was defended on the basis that the First Applicant had lived at the Flat as his family home since about 1979 as have the other Applicants in their lifetimes and that the possession claim was seeking to re-litigate a complex, dormant family dispute which had been the subject of 3 sets of proceedings already between 1987 and 1999. On 23 June 2020 HHJ Gerald entered judgment for possession to the Respondent.

The Applicants appealed that order and earlier orders of 14 May and 19 June 2020. By his order of 17 May 2021 Meade J allowed the Applicants’ appeal against the orders of HHJ Gerald dated 14 May 2020, 19 June 2020 and 23 June 2020. He further ordered the Applicants to pay the Respondent’s costs thrown away between 4 June 2020 and 14 July 2020, to include a payment on account, by reason of the delay in filing the Appellant’s Notice between those dates and otherwise made no order as to costs.

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