Gunasekera v. Jinadasa – sllr 1996 volume 2 page 115

In Gunasekera v. Jinadasa, the court addressed the issue of whether a tenant’s continued occupation and the ongoing payment of rent to an “authorised person”—specifically the original landlord after a transfer of title—constituted acceptance of a new tenancy (attornment) or amounted to a repudiation of the tenancy, thereby giving rise to a right for the landlord to pursue a vindicatory action for possession. It was held that persistent failure of the tenant to attorn to the new owner, coupled with continued payment to the predecessor, could be construed as repudiation of the tenancy, thus supporting a vindicatory action rather than an action founded on continued tenancy. This principle reaffirms the landlord’s flexibility on remedies and clarifies that attornment is dependent not merely up