In re Smith and Hartogs: 1895

A landlord agreed to a reduction of the rent payable for the time being, with the balance in effect being added to the rent payable later in the term. The tenant failed to pay the reduced rent.
Held: The landlord was entitled to distrain for the full amount of the rent.
Vaughan Williams J said: ‘To put the case in the manner most favourable to the trustee [i.e. the tenants’ trustee in bankruptcy]; Here was an agreement that if the tenant paid the rent agreed upon by instalments, the landlord would not enforce his original remedy. Treating the agreement as being one for good consideration, it cannot be enforced by the tenant if he was in default . . ‘

Citations:

(1895) 72 LT 221

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedWright and Another (Liquidators of SHB Realisations Ltd) v The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd ChD 6-Mar-2018
IVA is a special form of contract
Liquidators asked the court whether sums sought by the insolvent company’s landlords were payable and or provable. Under an IVA, the copany had been paying reduced rents, but the arrangement document provided that the full rents would be restored on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.605852