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Mrs McKenzie was a tenant in an Ealing FHA flat. In February 2000 she moved out, leaving her husband in occupation, and applied for a transfer. Ealing accepted the application and granted her the tenancy of a new flat, starting in July 2000.

It told her she would have to terminate her old tenancy. She agreed to do so by signing a notice to quit prepared by the association. The notice was defective (it only gave six days' notice instead of four weeks).

Ealing closed the rent account for the earlier tenancy and opened one for the new flat.

It told its staff to treat Mr McKenzie as an illegal occupier.

It later realised the first notice to quit was defective and got her to sign another one. This was equally defective.

When Ealing claimed possession, Mr McKenzie said the tenancy had not ended. Ealing could not rely on either of the two notices or on an express "surrender", because it had not asked Mrs McKenzie to complete a deed of surrender.

This left it relying on a difficult argument that a surrender terminating the old tenancy could be "implied". The judge agreed and was upheld by the Court of Appeal (on different grounds) in October 2003.