Category: Landlord and Tenant

Carphone Warehouse UK Ltd v Cyrus Malekout: CA 14 Jun 2006

The tenant had a Rent Act tenancy. The landlord failed to repair the premises, and he was unable to occupy them. The present appellant landlord took an assignment of the freehold, and sought possession for arrears of rent. The first proceedings were compromised with the tenant retaining the tenancy, and the landlord agreeing to carry out repairs. Works were done, and the landlord applied for a refixing of the rent. The defendant said the repairs had not been carried out satisfactorily, and refused still to pay rent. The judge found that the repairs had been completed, and that the tenant still had a statutory tenancy. The landlord said that the failure to occupy the property since that time now allowed that assertion.
Held: The landlord’s appeal was dismissed. The earlier case had been settled on terms which presumed the continuation of the tenancy. The landlord had also applied for a rent increase on the same basis. That created an estoppel to prevent the landlord now to deny it. It was clear that the tenant had not abandoned his intention to return.

Judges:

Ward LJ, Smith LJ, Cresswell J

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Civ 767, Times 28-Jun-2006

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Rent Act 1977

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Mills v Cooper QBD 1967
Two sets of criminal proceedings were brought against the defendant for offences under section 127 of the Highways Act 1959 namely that of being a gypsy and, without lawful excuse, camping on a highway. The first proceedings were brought in respect . .
Cited – J Wright and H Wright v Newcastle Ltd and others CA 25-May-2002
Where proceedings were compromised, one could not say that the issues settled were res judicata but nonetheless it would be an abuse of process to allow the same issues to be relitigated later. If in later proceedings a party raised an issue which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Litigation Practice

Updated: 07 September 2022; Ref: scu.242518

Aubergine Enterprises Limited v Lakewood International Limited: CA 26 Feb 2002

A sought confirmation that it had successfully rescinded a contract for the purchase of a leasehold property from L. Either party was to be able to rescind, if consent to the assignment had not obtained before three days before completion. There appeared to be confusion as to whether consent had been indicated between the solicitors.
Held: Words in a letter ‘subject to licence’ had different effect where there was an existing legal relationship between the parties. The consent had been given sufficiently to comply with the contract, even though informal and conditional. The seller was not in breach, and the buyer was not free to rescind.

Judges:

Lord Justice Auld, Lord Justice Ward, And, Lord Justice Robert Walker

Citations:

Gazette 11-Apr-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 177, [2002] 1 WLR 2149

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Bickel v Courtenay Investments (Nominees) Limited ChD 1984
. .
Cited – Norwich Union Life Insurance Society v Shopmoor Ltd ChD 1999
Shopmoor’s predecessors demised premises for 150 years at a yearly rent of andpound;100 on payment of a premium. A covenant provided that the tenant was not to assign or sublet without the landlord’s consent, not to be unreasonably withheld or . .
Cited – Footwear Corporation Ltd v Amplight Properties Ltd ChD 1-Apr-1998
The plaintiff was tenant of premises under a lease granted by the defendant’s predecessor in title. He vacated the premises in July 1996, and on 17 November 1997 wrote asking the defendant for a licence to sublet them to a pet shop business. The . .
Cited – City Hotels Group Ltd v Total Property Investments Ltd 6-Jul-1984
The landlords had received a request for a consent to a proposed assignment of the lease. They did not, in terms, refused consent, but had not given it notwithstanding a considerable passage of time and lengthy correspondence. The court was asked . .
Cited – Mount Eden Land Ltd v Prudential Assurance Co Ltd CA 12-Nov-1996
The Court warned against extending the ‘magic’ of the ‘subject to contract’ label into the realm of unilateral licences. The question was whether a landlord had granted licence to the tenant to carry out alterations. The letter relied on as . .
Cited – Venetian Glass Gallery Ltd v Next Properties Ltd. 1989
The court considered the significance of a reservation that a letter was sent ‘subject to licence’. After considering case law: ‘All three go to show that there is a distinction recognised by the law between the relationships, such as those between . .

Cited by:

Cited – Alchemy Estates Ltd v Astor and Another ChD 5-Nov-2008
The parties disputed the effect of a contract between them for the sale of a leasehold property. After exchange the solicitors failed to obtain the landlord’s consent to the proposed assignment as required by the lease. In the meantime the proposed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Landlord and Tenant, Land

Updated: 07 September 2022; Ref: scu.167704

Beedles v Guinness Northern Counties Ltd: CA 19 Apr 2011

The tenant of a pub argued that the landlord brewery had an obligation to make alterations to the pub so as to allow him properly to enjoy it notwithstanding his disability. He suffered epilepsy and could no longer safely decorate it himself. He sought to require the landlord to do so.

Judges:

Maurice Kay, Carnwath, Moses LJJ

Citations:

[2011] EWCA Civ 442

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 24C

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Discrimination, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.432832

Michael Gerson Ltd v Greatsunny Ltd: CA 9 Feb 2011

The landlord had agreed that its rights in respect of certain hired equipment installed by the tenant would be waived. On the tenant becoming insolvent, the landlord was to allow the owner 28 days to remove it. The parties disputed whether adequate notice had been given.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The judge had found as a fact that the notice had been given, and nothing had been said to suspend the 28 day period.

Judges:

Arden LJ

Citations:

[2011] EWCA Civ 416

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In Re Friedlander ex parte Oastler CA 1884
Lindley LJ said of the section: ‘The first question is, what is the meaning of the debtors ‘giving notice’ that he has suspended, or is about to suspend, payment of his debts? I think it does not mean mere casual talk; it must be something formal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Insolvency

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.432811

Doe On The Joint And Several Demises Of Sir Richard Bassett, Knight, And Others, Against Anna Mew Doe On The Several Demises Of Edwards, Jelly, Robert Tucker And Others v Gunning And Another: 10 Jun 1837

Citations:

[1837] EngR 828, (1837) 7 Ad and E 240, (1837) 112 ER 462

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Wills and Probate, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.313945

K/S Victoria Street (A Danish Partnership) v House of Fraser (Stores Management) Ltd and Others: ChD 1 Dec 2011

Application the defendants sought permission to re-amend their defence and to add a counterclaim, raising for the first time pleas of rectification and estoppel by convention.

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 3179 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – K/S Victoria Street v House of Fraser (Stores Management) Ltd and Others CA 27-Jul-2011
The agreement provided that the guarantors to the original lease should act also as guarantors on any assignment. The tenant challenged this provision saying that it contravened the requirements of section 25 of the 1995 Act. HoF contended that such . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Litigation Practice

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.449870

J Murphy and Sons Ltd v Railtrack Plc: CA 29 Apr 2002

A lease was granted of land, but the landlord had no land over which it could grant any rights to access the land. The rent came to be reviewed. The tenant had independently obtained access rights. The landlord wanted the lack of access rights to be disregarded.
Held: The absence of rights of access rights could not be disregarded, and the land was to be valued without them.

Judges:

Lord Justice Peter Gibson Lord Justice Judge Lord Justice May

Citations:

[2202] 2 EGLR 48, [2002] 19 EG 148, [2002] EWCA Civ 679, [2003] 1 P and CR 91

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Approved – G Orlik (Meat Products) Ltd v Hastings and Thanet Building Society 1974
The tenant requested a new lease and the renewal of personal rights attached to the first lease.
Held: The court could not countenance renewal of purely personal rights under the 1954 Act. It was said that: ‘The object of Part II of the Act is . .

Cited by:

Cited – The Picture Warehouse Ltd v Cornhill Investments Ltd QBD 23-Jan-2008
The tenant appealed against a decision that provision for parking should not be included in the new tenancy granted to him under the Act. The original lease had been intended to be varied to move the tenant to allow some rebuilding, and new parking . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 04 September 2022; Ref: scu.217054

Finch v Underwood: CA 1876

The landlord had covenanted with the tenant, on receipt of notice from the latter, to renew the lease ‘in case the covenants and agreements on the tenants’ part shall have been duly observed and performed’. Notice was duly given but the landlord refused to renew the lease because the interior of the property needed repairs at a cost of andpound;13. At first instance Malins VC found the want of repair was trifling, and for the tenant.
Held: The landlord’s appeal succeeded. Exact compliance with the terms of the option was needed. The case was one of compliance with a condition precedent.
James LJ said: ‘I think, moreover, that the Plaintiff, if otherwise entitled to a lease, would have lost that right by breach of the covenants to repair. No doubt every property must at times be somewhat out of repair, and a tenant must have a reasonable time allowed to do what is necessary: but where it is required as a condition precedent to the granting of a new lease that the lessee’s covenants shall have been performed, the lessee who comes to claim the new lease must shew that at that time the property is in such a state as the covenants require it to be. He can easily send in his builder, get a report of what repairs are necessary, and do them before he applies for the lease. There is no hardship in requiring this of him, and I think he is not entitled to excuse himself by saying that the want of repair is trifling. The answer to that is, ‘No matter; your bargain was to leave the property in thorough repair.’ If he has not fulfilled his legal bargain, which is also his bargain in equity, he cannot sustain his claim for a lease.’
Mellish LJ: ‘In a case like this, if a tenant wishes to claim the benefit of such a covenant he should send in his surveyor to see what repairs are needed, and should effect the repairs which the surveyor certifies to be requisite. The Court would be inclined to give credit to a survey thus honestly made, and would lean towards holding the condition precedent to have been complied with. But in the present case it is admitted that there was an existing breach of the covenant to repair.’

Judges:

James LJ, Mellish LJ, Baggallay LJ

Citations:

(1876) 2 Ch D 310

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – United Scientific Holdings v Burnley Borough Council HL 1978
The House was asked whether a failure by a lessor to keep strictly to the timetable laid down in a rent review clause in a lease necessarily deprived the lessor of the benefit of the rent review.
Held: A stipulation as to time in an option . .
Cited – BP Oil UK Ltd and others v Lloyds TSB Bank Plc CA 21-Dec-2004
An option was granted to three lessees for the purchase of the reversion. After one ceased to be a lessee, the remaining two purported to exercise the option. The landlord said that only the three could exercise the option together.
Held: The . .
Cited – Commercial Union Life Assurance Co Ltd v Label Ink Ltd ChD 2001
An industrial warehouse was let for a term of 15 years. A clause contained an option for the tenant to break the lease on one year’s written notice on condition that: ‘There shall not be any material breach of the covenants on its part herein . .
Cited – Fitzroy House Epworth Street (No. 1) Ltd and Another v Financial Times Ltd CA 31-Mar-2006
The defendant tenant sought to exercise a break clause in the lease. The landlord said that the notice was deficient because the tenant had failed ‘materially to comply with’ its repairing obligations. The judge found the cost of repairs were . .
Not helpful in this context. – MIDILL (97Pl) Ltd v Park Lane Estates Ltd and Another CA 11-Nov-2008
Refusal to return Land Contract Deposit
The court was asked as to whether a seller could retain a deposit paid by the claimant on a sale where contracts had been exchanged but the buyer had proved unable to go ahead.
Held: The appeal against refusal of return of the deposit failed. . .
Cited – Quirkco Investments Ltd v Aspray Transport Ltd ChD 23-Nov-2011
The defendant tenant said that it had exercised a break clause in the lease held of the claimant. The claimant said the break notice was ineffective because the defendant was in breach of the lease, not having paid an iinsurance service charge, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.188167

McDonald and Another v Fernandez and Another: CA 19 Jul 2003

The landlord served a notice to terminate a shorthold tenancy saying that he required possession on a certain day. The tenancy had been a periodic tenancy, and the date was not the last day of a period of the tenancy.
Held: The Act was specific. What was being served was not a notice to quit but a notice specifying the last day of the tenancy, rather than the day on which possession was required. The Act differentiates between notices after a fixed term tenancy ends which can end on any day, and notices for a periodic tenancy which must expire on the last day of a period of the tenancy. The Act did not allow a notice which was only substantially to the same effect to be compliant. It was not difficult for the landlords to comply: they knew when the period ended. The consequences of non-compliance were not serious for the landlords; a defective notice could be cured later, and the landlord was not saddled with a secure tenant. The notice failed to achieve this and was invalid.
Hale LJ said: ‘But if the question is, what does the statute require, the answer is that the statute requires the notice to specify a date which is the last day of the period. The statute does not require the landlord to specify a day on which he requires possession. This is not a notice to quit. The landlord will not get possession without the tenant’s consent unless he goes to court. That is why the statute requires the landlord to state that possession is required ‘after a date specified in the notice, being the last day of a period of a tenancy’.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter and Lady Justice Hale

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1219, Times 09-Oct-2003, [2004] 1 WLR 1027

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Housing Act 1988 21(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Assurance HL 21-May-1997
Minor Irregularity in Break Notice Not Fatal
Leases contained clauses allowing the tenant to break the lease by serving not less than six months notice to expire on the third anniversary of the commencement date of the term of the lease. The tenant gave notice to determine the leases on 12th . .
Distinguished – Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Hall; White v Chubb; similar CA 19-Dec-2001
Parties appealed decisions as whether assured shorthold tenancy notices were valid despite errors.
Held: If, notwithstanding errors or omissions, the substance of the notice was sufficiently clear to the reasonable person reading it, then the . .
Cited – Lower Street Properties Ltd v Jones CA 1986
The tenant complained both that her tenancy was a periodic assured tenancy acquired on succession, and that the termination notice given to her was invalid. LSP had granted an assured shorthold tenancy to C, and J was her statutory successor. The . .

Cited by:

Cited – Notting Hill Housing Trust v Roomus CA 29-Mar-2006
The landlord had served a notice to quit on his tenant. The notice specified that possession would be required ‘at the end of your period of your tenancy’ It was objected that the notice was ineffective.
Held: The notice must be interpreted to . .
Cited – Andrews and Another v Cunningham CA 23-Jul-2007
The elderly appellant claimed a non-shorthold assured tenancy. He had moved in in 1999, but had been given a rent book which described the tenancy as an assured tenancy. The now deceased landlord had himself occupied another flat in the building. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.185549

Katana and Another v Catalyst Communities Housing Ltd: CA 28 Jan 2010

The defendants sought leave to appeal against an order for possession. The landlords were to sell the property to a housing association and let the property to tenants for three months and thereafter terminable on one month’s notice. The tenant had sublet parts of the premises to others (including the defendants) on long leases. Those sub-tenants sought the protection of the 1954 Act.

Judges:

Patten LJ

Citations:

[2010] EWCA Civ 370, [2010] 26 EG 92, [2010] 2 EGLR 21

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – D’Silva v Lister House Development Ltd 1970
Even an unlawful sub-tenancy can have protection under Part II of the 1954 Act. The court described as fallacious the submission that section 74(1) does not extend to or answer the question whether the document has ever been delivered, saying: ‘The . .
Cited – Javad v Aqil CA 15-May-1990
P in possession – tenancy at will Until Completion
A prospective tenant was allowed into possession and then made periodic payments of rent while negotiations proceeded on the terms of a lease to be granted to him. The negotiations broke down.
Held: The tenant’s appeal failed. It was inferred . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.430472

Craftrule Ltd v 41-60 Albert Place Mansions (Freehold) Ltd: CA 24 Feb 2011

The court was asked to construe the phrase ‘a self- contained part of a building’ in the 1993 Act.

Judges:

Smith LJ

Citations:

[2011] EWCA Civ 185

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 3 4

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.430046