Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

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Key definition

Voluntary arrangement definition

What does Voluntary arrangement mean? In practice, a voluntary arrangement is a negotiated, legally binding compromise of debts that lets a debtor pay in full or in part over time while avoiding bankruptcy or liquidation. The term is descriptive: in England & Wales and Northern Ireland it most commonly refers to a company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) for companies and an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) for individuals, both statutory procedures under the Insolvency Act 1986 (and the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989). In Scotland, CVAs are available, but individuals use protected trust deeds or the Debt Arrangement Scheme rather than IVAs. In Ireland, “voluntary arrangement”...

Voluntary arrangement ending 3-year licence to occupy: occupier remedies

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Q&As

Lease or licence?

In Street v Mountford, the House of Lords set out the core indicators of a tenancy. These focus on the substance of the arrangement rather than the label attached to it:

exclusive possession
of specified premises

Although the payment of rent may suggest a tenancy, it is not essential. Whether the proposed arrangement is a lease or a licence turns on the agreement taken as a whole; where the parties in reality confer exclusive possession, that result cannot be avoided by calling the document something else. What counts is the essence of the bargain, not its outward form or chosen description. Even where the paperwork is properly framed at the outset as a true licence, the parties’ subsequent behaviour may alter the character of the arrangement so that a tenancy is later created. For further discussion, see Practice Note: Leases and licences of land—key features and differences, together with the commentary in Hill and Redman’s Division A from paragraph 290 onwards. There must also be certainty as to the term of the tenancy...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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