In residential possession proceedings, can the court make an order...
In residential possession proceedings, can the court make an order a suspended or postponed order for possession by consent of the parties even though it would lack jurisdiction to suspend or postpone in the absence of consent?
The landlord can chose to abandon a mandatory ground for possession which could only lead to an outright order (like ground 8 under the Housing Act 1988) and instead rely on a discretionary ground which can lead to a suspended or postponed order (like grounds 10 or 11). If, however, the law does not afford the court a discretion to suspend or postpone (as with trespassers, for example) then the parties cannot vest it with a discretion by giving their consent to an order. Nevertheless, it is still possible for the landlord to undertake that he will not enforce an order for possession for a certain period or so long as certain conditions are complied with and the undertaking can be incorporated as a recital in the preamble to the possession order.
