The tenant had made unauthorised alterations to the premises by the construction of some toilets, in breach of covenant. The position was later regularised with a licence from the landlord, reciting that the lessee had made alterations to the demised premises in contravention of the covenant against alterations and provided that the lessor authorised the retention of those alterations in consideration of certain covenants. Those covenants included a covenant at the expiration or sooner determination of the lease if required by the lessor and at the lessee’s expense to reinstate the demised premises by removing the works and making good.
Held: Hutchinson J rejected the argument that the grant of the licence amounted to forbearance by the lessor for reasons ‘it is difficult see to how, even allowing that forbearance adds something to neglect, it can sensibly be said to envisage a binding agreement not to enforce the covenants. I should add, in any event, that I am not convinced by an argument that depends on importing to the word ‘forbearance’ some significantly different meaning to that connoted by the word ‘neglect’, because it is common experience to find that legal documents, like the Book of Common Prayer, use two words to convey the same meaning.’
Judges:
Hutchinson J
Citations:
[1984] 1 EGLR 50
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – JBW Group Ltd v Westminster City Council CA 12-Mar-2010
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 . .
Cited – Topland Portfolio No 1 Ltd v Smiths News Trading Ltd CA 21-Jan-2014
The claimant landlord sought to recover arrears of its tenant’s rent after the tenant’s insolvency from the defendant under the defendant’s guarantee of the rent. The defendant had argued successfully at first instance that the guarantee had been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 21 October 2022; Ref: scu.426720