TOLATA 1996: Competing Priorities

The article examines the court’s discretionary power to order a sale of the family home at the suit of a secured creditor. Sections 14 and 15 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 replaced trusts for sale with the modern equivalent of the trust of land. Section 15, in particular, introduced new statutory guidelines for determining the way in which the court should exercise its power in deciding whether or not to order a sale of co-owned property at the instance of a secured creditor who is seeking to recover its debt in the absence of any bankruptcy of the co-owners. How far, however, has s.15 actually changed judicial thinking in determining whether a sale should be allowed at the suit of a chargee