The court was asked whether the assignee of the reversion of the lease of Wembley stadium was entitled to demand payment of service charges. Held: There was no basis for challenging the finding of an estoppel by convention, the tenant having dealt with the assignee as landlord. Judges: Hughes LJ, Collins LJ Citations: [2007] EWCA … Continue reading Wembley National Stadium Ltd v Wembley (London) Ltd and others: CA 29 Aug 2007
The landlord had assigned the reversion of the lease. There was an outstanding dispute with the tenant defendant who owed arrears of rent, but sought to set these off against a claim for damages for the landlord’s failure to construct the factory in the first place. Held: The new landlord was not liable for the … Continue reading Edlington Properties Limited v J H Fenner and Co Limited: CA 22 Mar 2006
The defendant had taken assignments of the term of two underleases from the claimant, and then re-assigned them to a limited company with guarantors of the rent, and they in turn re-assigned the leases. The last company became insolvent. The landlord and the claimants and receivers agreed to look for a further assignee and therefore … Continue reading Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz: ChD 11 Apr 2006
A landlord gave notice to the original lessees of business premises, under section 17 of the 1995 Act. It was sent by recorded delivery to the lessees’ last known residential address but was returned to the sender by the Royal Mail. Nevertheless the landlord contended that there had been good service under section 23(1) of … Continue reading Commercial Union Life Assurance Co Ltd v Moustafa: 1999
The tenants of a unit on a large shopping centre found the business losing money, and closed it in contravention of a ‘keep open’ clause in the lease. They now appealed from a mandatory injunction requiring them to keep the store open. Held: Specific performance is an exceptional remedy, as opposed to the common law … Continue reading Co-Operative Insurance Society Ltd v Argyll Stores: HL 21 May 1997
An option in an agreement to take a tenancy was not ‘an agreement for a tenancy’ for the purposes of section 28(1). Judges: Proudman J Citations: [2013] EWHC 98 (Ch), [2013] WLR(D) 40, [2013] 3 WLR 327, [2013] 1 Ch 525, [2013] 6 EG 105, [2013] L and TR 20 Links: Bailii, WLRD Statutes: Landlord … Continue reading Ridgewood Properties Group Ltd and Others v Valero Energy Ltd: ChD 30 Jan 2013
Meaning and effect of a poorly drafted guarantee Judges: Mr Justice Morgan Citations: [2014] EWHC 145 (Ch) Links: Bailii Statutes: Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Contract, Landlord and Tenant Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.520871
The lease provided the tenant would pay the rent ‘without any deduction’. Held: The words ‘without any deductions’ in a lease were ambiguous and were insufficient to exclude the tenant’s right to claim a set off. Clear words are needed before the court will impute to the parties an intention to exclude the equitable rights … Continue reading Connaught Restaurants Ltd v Indoor Leisure Ltd: CA 17 Sep 1993
The parties had agreed to sell property and to lease it back. The agreement provided that on an assignment of the lease, the existing tenant’s guarantor should also stand as guarantor for the incoming assignee, but not subsequently. It now appealed a finding that it was not free to assign the lease to an associate … Continue reading K/S Victoria Street v House of Fraser (Stores Management) Ltd and Others: ChD 17 Dec 2010
The defendants argued that they were not liable as guarantors under an Authorised Guarantee Agreement for a lease when the assignee tenant had become insolvent. Held: The guarantors were liable provided that the extent of the claim did not exceed their original liability. Judges: Lindsay J Citations: [2007] EWHC 775 (Ch) Links: Bailii Statutes: Landlord … Continue reading The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd v Ayres and Grew: ChD 3 Apr 2007
Land at Wembley stadium had been sold to the defendants and leased back. The defendant assigned the freehold within the group, declaring that the lease was held in trust for the original freeholder. The claimant now said that the defendant assignee was not entitled to claim the service charge. Held: There had been an estoppel … Continue reading Wembley National Stadium Ltd v Wembley (London) Ltd and Others: ChD 4 Apr 2007
Leases contained break clauses which the tenant purported to exercise. The landlord replied that they were ineffective because the tenant had not complied with his repair covenants. The dispute appeared settled after negotiations, and the settlement was embodied in an agreement. The tenant did not vacate the premises in time, and the landlord said the … Continue reading Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd v Expeditors International (Uk) Ltd: CA 24 Jan 2007
The landlord sought repayment of arrears of rent. The tenant sought to raise a set off which had arisen against the landlord’s predecessor arising from defects in the property they had constructed. Held: The tenant had no right of set off. Muscat established a right where the arrears had arisen during the prior to the … Continue reading Edlington Properties Ltd v J H Fenner and Co Ltd: QBD 20 Oct 2005
The parties disputed whether the landlord had accepted the surrender of a lease. The tenant had handed in the keys. The landlord claimed rent for the subsequent period. The court had found surrender by operation of law, the landlord taking several steps after the keys had been handed in to make the property suitable for … Continue reading Artworld Financial Corporation v Safaryan and Others: CA 27 Feb 2009
The parties agreed for a lease to be granted of a new building. Part had been intended to be excluded for shops, but permission was not obtained, the shops area was included and leased back. When the tenants sought to determine the lease, the landlord said that vacant possession of the whole was required. Held: … Continue reading JIS (1974) Ltd v MCP Investment Nominees I Ltd: CA 9 Apr 2003
The authority had obtained a possession order from its secure tenant but then agreed to accept payments toward the arrears. The tenant applied for and was granted a declaration that she had on that agreement acquired a new tenancy. The authority appealed. Held: The agreement had created a new tenancy even after a final possession … Continue reading Burrows v Brent London Borough Council: HL 31 Oct 1996
The defendant had taken on a lease of a parade of shops, and sub-let each shop for a full premium at a nominal rent. It sought to limit its own liability to pay the head rent by limiting the covenant in the sub-leases to pay the head rent to the time in which it held … Continue reading London Diocesan Fund and others v Avonridge Property Company Ltd and Phithwa: HL 1 Dec 2005
SCIT SCHEDULE A – income from land – whether agreements for lease gave rise to an immediate right to rent or whether the right was conditional on obtaining the landlord’s consent to subletting – whether the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 enables retention of a future rent payment on a sale of the reversion … Continue reading A Property Company v HM Inspector of Taxes: SCIT 5 Oct 2004
The claimant granted a lease to the respondents, and then assigned the reversion to another company. It gave notice to the tenant of its desire to be released from its obligations as landlord. The tenant did not serve any counter-notice. Defects occurred for which the landlord would be liable. The agreement for lease provided that … Continue reading BHP Petroleum Great Britain Ltd v Chesterfield Properties Ltd and another: CA 30 Nov 2001
The lessors sued the original lessees for rent due under the lease after the term had been assigned to another. The lessors had given a licence to assign and the licence contained a guarantee from a third party to the lessors that the assignee would pay the rent etc. Subsequently the lessors released the guarantee. … Continue reading Allied London Investments Ltd v Hambro Life Assurance Ltd (No 2): ChD 1984
Whether or not guarantee provisions in a licence to assign certain leased premises are enforceable or whether they are struck down by the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 Judges: Mann J Citations: [2019] EWHC 941 (Ch) Links: Bailii Statutes: Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Landlord and … Continue reading Co-Operative Group Food Ltd v A and A Shah Properties Limited and Another: ChD 12 Apr 2019
The lease released the landlord from his liability to repair after his assignment of the reversion. It appealed a finding that the provision was void under the 1995 Act, saying the clause was a personal covenant not caught by the Act. Held: The covenant could not successfully proclaim itself both personal and binding on a … Continue reading Avonridge Property Co Ltd v Mashru and others: CA 14 Oct 2004
The tenant was sued by his landlord for arrears of rent, but sought an equitable set-off for damages for disrepair accruing under the previous landlord. Held: If the entitlement to recover arrears of rent passes from assignor to assignee, and if the amount of that entitlement is reduced or extinguished at common law by money … Continue reading Smith v Muscat: CA 10 Jul 2003
The tenant sought an injunction against its neighbour and landlord to prevent it letting an adjoining property without a restriction similar to the one in its own lease. The claimants sought reassurance from the defendant tenants of the adjoining propery that they would act in accordance with the retriction, but no re-assurance was given. Held: … Continue reading Oceanic Village Ltd v United Attractions Ltd, Shirayama: ChD 9 Dec 1999
The parties, head lessor and sub-lessess, had assumed that following Brown -v- Wilson the sub-lease would continue upon the determination of the head lease, and had overlooked Pennell which overruled Brown v Wilson. However the lease made express provision. Held: The express preservation of the sub-lease allowed the sub-lease to continue. As to whether an … Continue reading PW and Co v Milton Gate Investments Ltd (BT Property Ltd and another, Part 20 defendants): ChD 8 Aug 2003
An office buidling had a toughened glass cladding. When a cladding plate slipped and fell, the local authority issed a dangerous structures notice. The landlord served a notice to use the Act to divest himself of responsibility for repairs. Held: For a lease covenant to be subject to the Act, whether for the landlord or … Continue reading BHP Petroleum Great Britain Ltd v Chesterfield Properties Ltd and Another: ChD 27 Feb 2001
Neuberger J said that the 1995 Act: ‘represents a sea change in the law relating to a tenant’s liability after he assigns the lease’. Judges: Neuberger J Citations: (2001) PandCR 28 Statutes: Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Cited – Good Harvest Partnership Llp v Centaur Services Ltd ChD … Continue reading Wallis Fashion Group Ltd v CGU Life Insurance: ChD 2001
The tenant sought to prevent the sale of the landlord’s reversion until the lessor’s repairing obligations had been met. One of the grounds was that on a sale the tenant’s right of set-off would not pass. Held: An order was refused. Lightman J: ‘A tenant’s right to set off (against any liability to make payment … Continue reading Lotteryking Ltd v AMEC Properties Ltd: ChD 1995
Tenants had assigned their leases to subsidiary companies as part of a company re-organisation, and now claimed the benefit of the 1995 Act to relieve them from liability under an authorised guarantee agreement. Judges: Longmore, Patten, Ryder LJJ Citations: [2014] EWCA Civ 1215, [2015] 1 P and CR 5 Links: Bailii Statutes: Landlord and Tenant … Continue reading Tindall Cobham 1 Ltd and Others v Adda Hotels and Others: CA 5 Sep 2014
The claimant sub-tenant had been injured entering the block of apartments. He said that the freeholder was responsible despite no report of the disrepair having been made. The lease excused the landlord from unnotified liability. The parties acknowledged that section 11 of the 1985 Act could not be set aside by the contract. Held: The … Continue reading Edwards v Kumarasamy: SC 13 Jul 2016
UTLC LANDLORD AND TENANT – Leasehold – Service Charges – Covenant in lease – Whether invoices for major works supplied by the landlord were compliant with terms of the lease — Assignment of lease after interim demand – Final adjustment to demand made after assignment – Whether assignee liable to pay adjusted demand – whether … Continue reading London Borough of Southwark v Clark: UTLC 6 Nov 2015
The tenant had applied to the landlord for consent to assign certain leases. The court had declared the right to exercise break clauses in certain leases as lost. The court had found the right to be lost after the assignment of the leases by the original tenant, that the exercise of a break clauses limited … Continue reading JBW Group Ltd v Westminster City Council: CA 12 Mar 2010
Minor Irregularity in Break Notice Not Fatal Leases contained clauses allowing the tenant to break the lease by serving not less than six months notice to expire on the third anniversary of the commencement date of the term of the lease. The tenant gave notice to determine the leases on 12th January 1995, although the … Continue reading Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Assurance: HL 21 May 1997
The claimant was the original tenant under two 99 year underleases granted in 1967, and assigned them to the defendant who then himself assigned them. The eventual assignee had become insolvent. The landlord recovered the rents from the claimant who now sought an indemnity from the defendant under the 1925 Act. To minimise the losses, … Continue reading Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz: CA 6 Mar 2007
Leases had been granted. They had been assigned to the defendant who had assigned them again. The last assignee became insolvent and statutory demands were served on the claimant under the 1995 Act for rent. The claimant paid the sums due and now sought them from the defendant. He countered that his obligation under the … Continue reading Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz: CA 24 Jul 2003
The case concerned the question whether an original lessee could enforce by injunction against a successor in title to the term, a provision in a lease precluding alteration without consent. The ground on which he sought to do so was a covenant by the successor in title in the usual form to observe and perform … Continue reading Harris v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd: ChD 30 Jun 1904
Unless restricted by something else, an employer ought to find work to enable a workman to perform his part of the bargain, namely, to do his work. A term will be implied into a contract only to the extent required to give the contract efficacy: ‘if it is necessary, in the business sense, to give … Continue reading The Moorcock: CA 1889
A ship charterer discovered that the bills of lading were incorrect, but delayed withdrawal from the charter for 13 days. They now sought leave to appeal the arbitration award against them. Held: Though he deprecated extending the use of the expression ‘purposive construction’ from the interpretation of statutes to the interpretation of private contracts, Lord … Continue reading Antaios Compania Naviera SA v Salen Rederierna AB (‘the Antaios’): HL 1984
The landlord served a notice to quit on the head tenant under an understanding that the head tenant would not serve a counter notice. The effect was to determine the head and sub-tenancy. It acted as a notice to quit, and despite the consensual nature of the deal, it was not in law a surrender. … Continue reading Barrett and others v Morgan: HL 27 Jan 2000
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside. Held: Investors having once assigned their causes of action to the ICS, could not later … Continue reading Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society: HL 19 Jun 1997
The agreement provided that the guarantors to the original lease should act also as guarantors on any assignment. The tenant challenged this provision saying that it contravened the requirements of section 25 of the 1995 Act. HoF contended that such an arrangement would frustrate the intention of the Act. Held: The provision stipulating in advance … Continue reading K/S Victoria Street v House of Fraser (Stores Management) Ltd and Others: CA 27 Jul 2011
The lease had been assigned by the claimant to the defendant and on again to a tenant who became insolvent. The landlord had recovered sums said to be due from the claimant who now sought an indemnity from the defendant. The defendant said that the claimant had overpaid, including sums excused by section 17 of … Continue reading Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz: HL 29 Oct 2008
The court considered whether the 1995 Act operated to prevent a guarantor of a lessee being required to provide a similar guarantor for an assignee. The tenant had created a sub-lease, and the lease required its guarantor to provide a similar guarantee for the sub-tenant. The defendant had given a guarantee and now objected to … Continue reading Good Harvest Partnership Llp v Centaur Services Ltd: ChD 23 Feb 2010
The landlord had taken a guarantee of the lease from the tenant when granting a licence to assign to the new tenant. That new tenant had become insolvent and the liquidator had disclaimed the lease. The court considered the position under Hindcastle after the 1995 Act. Held: The guaranteer’s appeal succeeded. The effect of the … Continue reading Shaw v Doleman: CA 1 Apr 2009
The claimant, in a representative action complained that the works involved in the erection of the Canary Wharf tower constituted a nuisance in that the works created substantial clouds of dust and the building blocked her TV signals, so as to limit her enjoyment of her land. Held: The interference with TV reception by an … Continue reading Hunter and Others v Canary Wharf Ltd: HL 25 Apr 1997
The court considered whether claim as against a shipowner could be set off against sums due under a time charter hire.
Held: Save for any contractual provision to the contrary a tenant is entitled to deduct from the rent payable, so as to . .
The claimant was a property developer, which sought to sell a row of shops at auction. One lot was a Woolworths store, where the company owned both freehold and leasehold interests, with Woolworths occupying an underlease, which the claimant had . .
Two brothers were in partneship in unequal shares, but acquired a property for use by the business which they held in equal shares. They agreed a parol yearly tenancy between themselves as owners and as partners. After one died his son took over his . .
References: (1848) 2 Ph 774, [1848] 1 H & TW 105, [1848] 18 LJ Ch 83, [1848] 13 LTOS 21, [1848] 13 Jur 89, [1848] 41 ER 1143 LC, (1848) 11 Beavan 571, [1848] EWHC Ch J34, [1848] EngR 1005, (1848) 11 Beav 571, (1848) 50 ER 937, [1848] EngR 1059, (1848) 1 H & … Continue reading Tulk v Moxhay; 22 Dec 1848
1267 – 1278 – 1285 – 1297 – 1361 – 1449 – 1491 – 1533 – 1677 – 1688 – 1689 – 1700 – 1706 – 1710 – 1730 – 1737 – 1738 – 1751 – 1774 – 1792 – 1793 – 1804 – 1814 – 1819 – 1824 – 1828 – 1831 – 1832 … Continue reading Acts
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