The plaintiffs were assignees of a lease dating from 1874. The lease contained a covenant by the lessees against underletting the premises or any part thereof without the consent in writing of the landlord. Under the Act, landlords could no longer seek any fine for consent to an assignment. The lease predated the Act.
Held: It was wrong to describe the Act as retrospective. It applied to events taking place after it came into effect. Section 3 does not annul or make void any existing contract; it only provides that in the future, unless there is found an express provision authorizing it, there shall be no right to exact a fine. The power to refuse consent to an assignment except upon the terms of paying a fine cannot fairly be called a vested right or interest.
Buckley LJ spoke of the presumption that legislation ‘speaks only as to the future’
Judges:
Cozens-Hardy MR, Buckley LJ
Citations:
[1911] 2 Ch 1
Statutes:
Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1892 3
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Moon v Durden 1848
In a case of a contract to pay money upon the event of a wager which an Act subsequently declares to be one in respect of which the assured shall not have an insurable interest. If the event has happened before the Act is passed, so that at the . .
Cited – Knight v Lee 1893
An Act which applies to an existing contract so as to affect existing rights must be investigated to see whether the effect is retrospective. . .
Cited by:
Cited – Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) HL 10-Jul-2003
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its . .
Cited – John Mander Pension Trustees Ltd v Revenue and Customs SC 29-Jul-2015
The pension scheme had been approved, but that approval later withdraw. HMRC issued assessment for the years in which it had been approved. The taxpayer argued that such assessments applied to the date with effect from which the approval is . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.184433
