Humber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports: CA 10 May 2012

The tenant appealed against a finding that the landlord was entitled to resist renewal of its lease under the 1954 Act challenging the stated intention of the landlord to occupy the premises for its own business purposes. It said that the proposed business would be in direct substitution for itself, that that business was very highly specialised, and that the landlord would not be able to create such a business without the assistance of the tenant which it would refuse.
Held: The appeal failed. There was no basis for the argument that it was improper for the landlord to rely upon some hypothesis as to dealings with the existing tenant. The statute was not limited in such a way. Also the judge had been entitled to find as a matter of fact that depsite its protestations to the contrary, the tenant would negotate some arrangement with the landlord after termination of the leases to sell its expertise to it.

Rimer, Maurice Kay, Tomlinson LJJ
[2012] EWCA Civ 596
Bailii
Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
England and Wales
Citing:
See AlsoHumber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports ChD 24-Feb-2011
The claimant sought to renew its leases of docking facilities from the landlord defendant. The defendant resisted saying it intended to operate its own business, and the claimant now alleged that the defendant was abusing its dominant position to . .
See AlsoHumber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports ChD 11-May-2011
. .
See AlsoHumber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports ChD 27-Jun-2011
Pre-trial review of pending trial. The court ordered the hearing of a preliminary issue being: ‘the issue of whether the Defendant intends to occupy the holdings for the purposes, or partly for the purposes, of a business to be carried on by it . .
CitedCunliffe v Goodman CA 1950
The court looked at the intention required of a landlord to show an intended purpose to oppose renewal of a lease. Asquith LJ said: ‘An ‘intention’ to my mind connotes a state of affairs which the party ‘intending’ – I will call him X – does more . .
CitedGregson v Cyril Lord Ltd CA 1962
A landlord opposing the grant of a new tenancy on the basis that he wished to conduct his own business from the premises, need not show that everything is in place to conduct the new business, but must be able to show that most obstacles to starting . .
CitedRegina (Westminster City Council) v British Waterways Board HL 1985
The tenant occupied land next to a canal under a lease from the Defendants. The landlord opposed a renewal saying they wished to occupy the land themselves for the purposes of a marina. The tenant said the plan was unrealistic, because it would not . .
LeaveHumber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports CA 27-Jan-2012
. .
Appeal fromHumber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports ChD 29-Jul-2011
. .
CitedLloyds and Scottish Finance Ltd v Cyril Lord Carpet Sales Limited HL 1992
The appellants were a Northern Irish company, which had entered liquidation, and the liquidator of that company. The respondent was a finance house. The company entered into a ‘block discounting’ agreement, which involved assigning customer credit . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.457603