In Re North East Property Buyers Litigation [2010] the English High Court was asked to determine preliminary issues in nine test cases. In these cases the mortgagees were seeking possession of properties following default by borrowers. The defaulting borrowers had acquired their properties as part of sale and leaseback arrangements. The seller occupiers had never vacated the properties and were disputing the mortgagees' rights to repossess on the basis that their actual occupation of the properties was an overriding interest that had priority over any rights of the mortgagees to repossess. There are ninety or so other similar cases currently awaiting the outcome of the test cases. There has already been a raft of litigation on similar issues, including the cases of Abbey National v Cann [1991] AC 56 (Cann) and Redstone v Welch & Jackson [2009] EG 98 (Redstone).
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