A landlord cannot prevent accepting a payment of rent from operating as a waiver of breach merely by stating at the time of payment that he accepts it without prejudice to his right to forfeit.
Parker J said: ‘It is also, I think, reasonably clear upon the cases that whether the act, coupled with the knowledge, constitutes a waiver is a question which the law decides, and therefore, it is not open to a lessor who has knowledge of the breach to say ‘I will treat the tenancy as existing, and I will receive the rent, or I will take advantage of my power as landlord to distrain; but I tell you that all I will do will be without prejudice to my right to re-enter, which I intend to reserve’. That is a position which he is not entitled to take up. If, knowing of the breach, he does distrain, or does receive the rent, then by law he waives the breach, and nothing which he can say by way of protest against the law will avail him anything.’
Parker J
[1910] 1 Ch 777
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – John Lewis Properties PLC v Viscount Chelsea ChD 1993
Three Leases of the Peter Jones site to T’s predecessor in 1934 contained covenants by T to redevelop the site in two phases, the second of which related to the MackMurdo and Simon’s Street buildings and was to be completed by December 25 1987. In . .
Cited – Osibanjo and Another v Seahive Investments Ltd CA 21-Nov-2008
Appeal against refusal of relief from forfeiture of lease – appeal based on assertion of waiver by acceptance of rent knowing of the breach.
Held: The appeal was refused. The acceptance of rent was through payment in of a cheque for a sum of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 28 July 2021; Ref: scu.278602
