1948 ,   Present: Wijeyewardene S.P.J.

ALIKANU, Appellant, and MARIKAR, Respondent.

S. C. 188-C. R. Colombo, 9,787

Rent Restriction Ordinance-Notice to quit by tenant-Agreement to deliver possession-Ordinance No. 60 of 1942-Section 8 (b).

An agreement by a tenant to deliver possession or determine the tenancy by a certain date is not such a notice to quite as is contemplated by section 8 (b) of the Rent Restriction Ordinance.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Commissioner of Requests, Colombo.

H. W. Tambiah, for defendant, appellant.

M. S. Abdulla, for plaintiff, respondent.

Cur. adv. vult.

 November 29, 1948. WIJEYEWARDENE S.P.J.-

The defendant was a tenant under the plaintiff of the properties bearing assessment Nos. 126 and 128, Bankshall Street. In 1947, the plaintiff asked the defendant to quit both the properties. The defendant gave 

plaintiff quiet possession of No. 126 and gave a writing P1 with regard to No. 128 at the request of the plaintiff. That writing reads: -

I (the tenant) do hereby engage from (the landlord) the premises No. 128, Bankshall Street, Colombo, as from the 1st day of September, 1947, for a period of two months.

And I have deposited with the landlord Rs. 150 to be held by him and accounted for at the termination of the tenancy on my redelivery of quiet and vacant possession of the premises to my landlord on the 31.10.47.

And I further agree to deliver or cause to be delivered quiet and vacant possession of the said premises on the 31.10.47 without invoking the benefits of the provisions of the Rent Restriction Ordinance or provisions of any other Ordinance or Ordinances restricting the right of landlord to collect rent or to sue the tenant in ejectment.

And I do hereby give notice that I will quit on the 31.10.47 and. deliver or cause to be delivered quiet and vacant possession as aforesaid and the notice hereby given is deemed to be a notice under section 8 (a) of the Rent Restriction Ordinance, No. 60 of 1942, now in force.

And I shall pay the monthly rental of Rs. 75 on or befroe the 1st day of each and every month.

In the event of one month's rent being in arrear and unpaid I shall immediately quit and deliver peaceful possession of the said premises to my landlord his agent or nominee without any dispute whatever. " The question to be decided on this appeal is whether P1 could be regarded as a notice to quit as contemplated by section 8 (a) of the Rent Restriction Ordinance, No. 60 of 1942. Reading the document as a whole and bearing in mind the fact that it was given at the plaintiff's request I have reached the decision that P1 is merely an agreement embodying the terms on which the plaintiff was willing to permit the defendant to continue in occupation of No. 128. No doubt, the defendant has said expressly that P1 should be regarded as a notice to quit under section 8 (a) of the Rent Restriction Ordinance. But that cannot alter the true nature of the document. To quote t