A tenant challenged his landlord’s refusal of consent to an assignment.
Held: The refusal was reasonable. The onus of proving that consent has been unreasonably withheld is on the tenant. It was not enough to show that other lessors might have accepted the proposed assignees; the lessors were not to be held to have witheld their licence unreasonably if they acted as a reasonable man might have done in the circumstances.
Lord Cozens-Hardy MR said: ‘It was not enough to show that other lessors might have accepted the proposed assignees; the lessors were not to be held to have withheld the licence unreasonably if in the actions they took they acted as a reasonable man might have done in the circumstances.’
Judges:
Lord Herbert Cozens-Hardy MR
Citations:
[1913] 29 TLR 714
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Estates Governors of Alleyn’s College v Williams ChD 14-Jan-1994
A scheme had been approved by the court under the Act, conferring management powers on managers. They were to consider applications for permission to construct new buildings, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld.
Held: It was for the . .
Adopted – In Re Town Investments Ltd Underlease ChD 1954
The court considered a proposed underletting at a rent well below the current market rent, and in consideration of a substantial premium. It had been refused by the Landlord.
Held: The lessor had reasonably withheld consent. It was enough that . .
Approved – Pimms Ltd v Tallow Chandlers Company CA 1964
The landlord had refused its consent to an assignment of the remaining term of a lease to a development company, which desired to acquire the lease because of its nuisance value, and to use its interest as a basis for inducing the landlord to enter . .
Cited – International Drilling Fluids v Louisville Investments (Uxbridge) Ltd CA 20-Nov-1985
Consent to Assignment Unreasonably Withheld
The landlord had refused a proposed assignment of office premises from a tenant who had occupied the premises as its permanent offices, to a tenant who proposed to use the premises as serviced offices – that is, for short-term rent to others. The . .
Cited – No1 West India Quay (Residential) Ltd v East Tower Apartments Ltd ChD 6-Oct-2016
Consent to assignment – delay
Tenants under long residential leases challenged the refusal of the landlord to consent to particular assignments of apartments. The leases contained provisions saying that such consent was not to be unreasonably withheld. The landlord now appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.181856
