Lease – Incomplete Contract – Possession – Locality Lands – Power to Lease.- An offer for a lease was made in writing by several tenants, and the landlord’s factor wrote in answer to the subfactor, through whom the offers had come, that the landlord had read over the offers, and that the rent and duration of the lease were agreed to, but other points not fixed. He thereafter wrote as to those, and with instructions to get the lease drawn out, and signed by the tenants on stamp: This was done, and sent to him for signature, but the landlord kept it for two years, and died without signing it. In the mean time, he had allowed possession to be taken by the tenants;-on the faith of it they had proceeded to make dykes, and other improvements, and had paid two years’ increased rent: Held, in all the circumstances of the case, that the lease was as effectual and binding, as if it had been signed by the Earl. Also, held that a lease may be granted by a fiar, after he had granted the same lands in liferent locality to his wife, to take effect in the event of her surviving him.
[1773] UKHL 2 – Paton – 317, (1773) 2 Paton 317
Bailii
Scotland
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 13 January 2022; Ref: scu.561819