Category: Landlord and Tenant

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.
Held: Whilst the landlord occupied the house, the tenancy could only be a common law tenancy subject to one month’s notice. The rentbook describing the tenancy as an assured tenancy did not prevent it also being an assured shorthold tenancy. The tenancy had become an assured shorthold tenancy on conversion, and the tenant’s appeal failed.

Judges:

Waller LJ, Wilson LJ, Lawrence Collins LJ

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 762

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Housing Act 1988

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – 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 . .
Cited – 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 . .
Cited – Speedwell Estates Limited and Covent Garden Group Limited v Jane Rush Dalziel and others CA 31-Jul-2001
Tenants sought to purchase the freehold reversion of their properties under leasehold enfranchisement. The landlord objected that the forms were incomplete and invalid. The tenants accepted that there were defects, but asserted that these were not . .
Cited – Burman v Mount Cook Land Ltd CA 20-Nov-2001
The tenant occupied a flat under a long lease at a low rent. She was entitled to acquire the freehold on payment of a premium and after following the procedure under the Act. The landlord served a purported counter notice which did not state in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.258297

RHJ Ltd v FT Patten (Holdings) Ltd and Another: ChD 13 Jul 2007

The court was asked whether the grant of a lease including a clause reserving: ‘All rights to the access of light or air from the said adjoining property known as Victoria House and Graham House to any of the windows of the demised property.’ allowed the tenant to claim a right of light over neighbouring land belonging to the landlord so as to prevent development. The lease also reserved to the landlord: ‘The full and free right to erect, build, re-build and or alter as they think fit at any time and from time to time any buildings or bays or projections to buildings on any land adjoining the demised property and/or on the opposite sides of the adjoining streets and access ways.’
Lewison J said: ‘The real distinction that the cases draw is, as it seems to me, between clauses that deal with the position as it exists at the date of the lease, and clauses that deal with what might happen in the future. Clauses of the first kind are effective only to prevent the creation of easements by express or implied grant; and do not prevent the subsequent acquisition of a right of light by prescription. Clauses of the second kind may prevent the acquisition of a right of light by prescription of what they authorise would interfere with light. If, on a fair reading of the clause they do, then it is not necessary, in my judgment, for the clause to use the word ‘light’. Nor, in my judgement, is it necessary for the clause to provide that the enjoyment of light is ‘permissive’. What is needed is that the clause makes it clear that the enjoyment of light is not absolute and indefeasible. The court must ‘find out the substance of the contract’: in other words it is a question of interpretation of the clause in question. Once the clause has been interpreted, that interpretation will have been ‘expressly’ agreed. A clause in a lease which authorises the landlord to build as he pleases is likely to satisfy the test.’

Judges:

Lewison J

Citations:

[2007] EWHC 1655 (Ch), [2007] NPC 90, [2008] L and TR 7, [2007] 4 All ER 744, [2007] 29 EG 143, [2007] 44 EG 182, [2007] 3 EGLR 1

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Prescription Act 1832 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Marlborough (West End) Ltd v Wilks Head and Eve ChD 20-Dec-1996
A dispute between neighbours was settled by a deed with the following clause: ‘IT IS HEREBY AGREED AND DECLARED that notwithstanding that the Building Owners have placed windows in that part of their new buildings which overlook the premises . .
Cited – Mitchell v Cantrill CA 1887
In 1864 Sir Humphrey de Trafford granted a 999 year lease of a dwelling house ‘with all rights and appurtenances, legal, used, or reputed, to the said plot of land, except rights, if any, restricting the free use of any adjoining land or the . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – RHJ Ltd v FT Patten (Holdings) Ltd and Another CA 12-Mar-2008
A right to light is an unusual form of easement in the sense that it exists only with regard to the access to light to defined apertures in a building (as opposed to the dominant land generally) and its acquisition depends on actual enjoyment, not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Land

Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.258163

Vesely v Levy and others: CA 27 Apr 2007

The tenant appealed against a finding that her tenancy was a statutory shorthold tenancy following termination of an assured shorthold tenancy, or an assured tenancy. She moved in as a carer for the tenant of the trustee defendants. That arrangement developed. The trustees said that she was not then treated as a tenant. The tenant said she became their tenant. An adjoining flat was bought, and a formal tenancy of both ran from August 2001 after the beneficiary and first tenant ceased to occupy the flat.
Held: The judge had found as a fact that the sums paid were for expenses and not by way of rent, and ‘a rent-free arrangement for the exclusive use and occupation of premises would not create a tenancy, if the correct inference from the purpose of the arrangement and the surrounding circumstances was that there was no intention to create the landlord and tenant relationship between the parties. The judge’s finding that the arrangement was for the continued sharing of the expenses of a joint household by two friends makes it very difficult, applying an objective test, to infer that there was an intention to grant a tenancy to one of them.’ Any tenancy arose only later at which time it was a shorthold tenancy.

Judges:

Mummery LJ, Arden LJ, Jacob LJ

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 367

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Housing Act 1996 96

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Ashburn Anstalt v Arnold (2) CA 25-Feb-1988
Various leases of properties had been granted. Legal and General occupied the property under an arrangement under which they paid no rent. The landlord sought possession, saying that the agreements were licences not tenancies because of the absence . .
Cited – Bostock v Bryant 1990
When considering whether a payment has been paid by way of rent, the court looks to the explanation or reason for the payment, asking whether the payment is for exclusive use and occupation of the premises. In this case a payment by occupiers in . .
Cited – Street v Mountford HL 6-Mar-1985
When a licence is really a tenancy
The document signed by the occupier stated that she understood that she had been given a licence, and that she understood that she had not been granted a tenancy protected under the Rent Acts. Exclusive occupation was in fact granted.
Held: . .
Cited – Montague v Browning CA 1954
Landlords had let the property to their caretaker of the whole premises. andpound;40 was to be deducted from the agreed rental value of the house (andpound;66), and he was to pay andpound;26pa in rent. The parties agreed that the letting was . .
Cited – Moss v Brown CA 1946
The parties to the disputed arrangements were friends at the time when the letting arrangement was entered into. The putative landlord said there was no intention by the parties to create the relationship of landlord and tenant, the issue being . .
Cited – Moses Toms v Luckett 1847
A lodger may in fact have exclusive possession of his room or rooms in a house, but that does not necessarily turn him into a tenant. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Housing

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251529

London Borough of Camden v Morath: UTLC 25 Jun 2019

Landlord and Tenant – Service Charges – variation of lease – whether lease fails to make satisfactory provision for payment for services provided for the tenant’s benefit – appeal dismissed – section 35 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

Citations:

[2019] UKUT 193 (LC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.639210

Alker v Collingwood Housing Association: CA 7 Feb 2007

The tenant had been injured when a glass panel in a door had broken when she pushed it and it had broken. Annealed glass of this sort was known since 1963. The Housing Association landlords appealed a finding that it was liable to repair premises under the 1972 Act.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The Act imposed a duty to repair. It did not extend to a duty to correct matters which were not in disrepair.

Judges:

Laws LJ, Carnwath LJ, Moore-Bick LJ

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 343, Times 14-Feb-2007

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Defective Premises Act 1972 4

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251436

Barrington v Sloane Properties Ltd: LT 2 Mar 2007

LT LANDLORD AND TENANT – service charges -lease permitted recovery from tenant of ‘actual cost’ of building works in relevant years – interrelationship of dates for payment of interim certificates under building contract to relevant years – whether erroneously calculated demands for service charges were validly made – powers of Tribunal to correct errors – appeal allowed.

Citations:

[2007] EWLands LRX – 31 – 2006

Links:

Bailii

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251191

Elmbirch Properties Plc v Schaefer-Tsoropatzadis and Another: LT 2 Mar 2007

LT LEASEHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT – flats – value of existing leases affected by interpretation of rent review clauses – meaning of the phrase ‘increased market ground rental value’ – whether Jarrett v Burford Estates [1999] 1 EGLR 181 rightly decided – ground rents chargeable on review – effects on value of existing leases and premiums payable – relevance of opinions of counsel not appearing before Tribunal – appeal dismissed – alternative valuations – Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

Citations:

[2007] EWLands LRA – 22 – 206

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251193

Kensington Heights Commercial Company Ltd v Campden Hill Developments Ltd: CA 21 Mar 2007

The head landlord had accepted a surrender of the head lease and granted a new lease. but for a longer term. The claimant company sought, on behalf of the qualifying tenants of the estate, an order for the disposal to it of the original lease under the 1987 Act. The landlord denied that it had made a relevant disposal.
Held: The new agreement granting a longer term was a relevant disposal, and a notice should have been served. The tenants were able to serve their notice on the freeholder. However the court did not have power to order grant of a new lease on the terms. The head lessee had not disposed of his interest in the reversion, it was enlarging his interest.

Judges:

Longmore LJ, Lawrence Collins LJ, Sir Martin Nourse

Citations:

Times 13-Apr-2007, [2007] EWCA Civ 245

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Belvedere Court Management Ltd v Frogmore Developments Ltd CA 24-Oct-1995
Landlords had sold flats to Frogmore without serving a section 5 notice under the 1987 Act. Prior to receipt of a purchase notice, Frogmore granted certain leases in the block of flats to another party.
Held: The agreements were upheld, and . .
Cited – Kay-Green and Others v Twinsectra Limited CA 15-May-1996
The former landlord had sold a number of buildings, some of which fell within Part I of the 1987 Act. The section 5 notice had not been served. The vendor had also failed to comply with his duty (under s 5(5)) to ‘sever’ the transaction, and sell . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.250447

Ben Cleuch Estates Ltd v Scottish Enterprise: SCS 1 Mar 2006

Whether a break option in a lease of premises was validly exercised by the defenders, the tenant of the Premises; or whether in any event the pursuers, the landlord of the Premises, are barred from denying that the option was validly exercised.

Citations:

[2006] ScotCS CSOH – 35

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.238894

Brown’s Operating System Services Ltd v Southwark Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation: CA 1 Mar 2007

T appealed against a decision upholding the claim of the respondent landlord S for unpaid service charges.
Held: The real issue was whether the money held by the landlord (whether held in reserve or retained as excess) was held to its own account or to the account of the tenant. The case of Possfund was an interpretation of a particular lease, not a statement of law.

Judges:

May LJ, Lomgmore LJ, Smith LJ

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 164

Links:

Bailii, Gazette

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – Secretary of State for the Environment v Possfund (North West) Ltd and others ChD 1997
The lease required T to pay a depreciation allowance toward the cost of maintaining and replacing fixtures and fittings, including the air conditioning. An unspent balance had accumulated when the lease came to an end. The reversion was sold and T . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249370

Lymington Marina Ltd v MacNamara and others: CA 2 Mar 2007

A share in a marina had been inherited by one brother whose application to grant successive sub-lcences of it to the other two was rejected by the marina, who said that this was not permitted. The marina appealed a finding that it had to make its decision on the licence in good faith.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The judge was correct in his interpretation of the power to grant sub-licences and the marina’s appeal failed. The statutory control over the approval of assignments of leases did not apply to such licences. There was a clear distinction between two clauses, one gave the marina an absolute discretion to withhold consent, the other did not, and the marina could not refuse its consent on irrelevant grounds. The judge had erred in applying public law Wednesbury concepts to the case.

Judges:

Pill LJ, Arden LJ, Sir Martin Nourse

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 151, [2007] 2 All ER (Comm) 825

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1927

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Gan Insurance Co Ltd v Tai Ping Insurance Co Ltd CA 3-Jul-2001
A reinsurance contract which contained a clause which provided that no settlement or compromise of a claim could be made or liability admitted by the insured without the prior approval of the reinsurers. The court considered how the discretion to . .
Appeal from – Lymington Marina Ltd v MacNamara and others ChD 4-Apr-2006
The claimant marina had been constructed with financial assistance from debenture holders who in return were given low cost licences. The claimant sought to refuse to the defendant debenture holders the right to sub-licence their rights to berth . .
Cited – Ashworth Frazer Limited v Gloucester City Council HL 8-Nov-2001
A lease contained a covenant against assignment without the Landlord’s consent, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. The tenant asserted, pace Killick, that the landlord could not refuse consent on the grounds that the proposed tenant might . .
Cited – Viscount Tredegar v Harwood HL 1929
Landlord’s reserved right to approve insurer
A covenant in the lease required the lessee to insure the premises with a nominated insurer or another insurer approved by the lessor. The lessor refused to approve a responsible and reputable insurer because of his wish that all tenants insure with . .
Cited – National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Limited and others HL 30-Jun-2005
Former HL decision in Siebe Gorman overruled
The company had become insolvent. The bank had a debenture and claimed that its charge over the book debts had become a fixed charge. The preferential creditors said that the charge was a floating charge and that they took priority.
Held: The . .
Cited – Killick v Second Covent Garden Property Co Ltd CA 1973
The belief of the landlord, however reasonable, that the proposed assignee intended to use the demised premises for a purpose which would give rise to a breach of the user covenant was not of itself a ground for withholding consent to assignment. . .
Cited – Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co v Product Star Shipping Ltd (No 2) CA 1993
Where parties enter into a contract which confers a discretion on one of them, the discretion must be exercised honestly and in good faith, and not ‘arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably’. The owner had acted unreasonably in that there was no . .
Cited – Ashworth Frazer Ltd v Gloucester City Council CA 3-Feb-2000
A landlord could not refuse to consent to an assignment because of a belief, even if reasonably based, that the intended use by the prospective assignee would be a breach of covenant under the lease. That did not mean that a landlord could not after . .
Cited – Paragon Finance plc v Nash etc CA 15-Oct-2001
The court was asked to consider whether there was any implied term limiting the power of a mortgagee to set interest rates under a variable rate mortgage.
Held: A loan arrangement which allowed a lender to vary the implied rate of interest, . .
Cited – Cantor Fitzgerald International v Horkulak CA 14-Oct-2004
The employee claimed under a bonus clause which ‘contained in a contract of employment in a high earning and competitive activity in which the payment of discretionary bonuses is part of the remuneration structure of employers.’
Held: The . .

Cited by:

Mentioned – Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National Plc and seven Others ComC 24-Apr-2008
The Office sought a declaration that the respondent and other banks were subject to the provisions of the Regulations in their imposition of bank charges to customer accounts, and in particular as to the imposition of penalties or charges for the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Company

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249371

Eccles v Bryant and Pollock: CA 1947

The Plaintiff contended that a letter written by the purchaser’s solicitor which effectively set out the terms of the agreement, enclosed the part of the contract signed by the purchaser, and asked in exchange for the counter-part signed by the vendor, created a binding contract between the parties.
Held: Negotiations ‘subject to contract’ for the grant of a lease remain in a state of negotiation until exchange of lease and counter-part.
Letters written by solicitors, acting as solicitors relating to a proposed grant of a lease, or related to a proposed acquisition of property by sale, are letters written by agents of the parties who have no authority to conclude a contract; they are not written by agents within whose ostensible authority there lies the function of making a contract. Once the documents had been exchanged however, the parties would be bound.
Lord Greene MR said: ‘One thing is quite clear on the facts of this case to my mind, that both firms of solicitors, one of whom – that is the vendors’ solicitors – practised in East Grinstead and the other of whom, the purchaser’s solicitors, practised in London, when they were instructed to carry this matter through by their respective clients, contemplated and intended from beginning to end to do so in the customary way which is familiar to every firm of solicitors in the country, namely, by preparing the engrossment of the draft contract when agreed in duplicate, the intention being to do what I have no doubt at this very moment is happening in dozens of solicitors’ offices all over the country, namely, to exchange the two parts when signed by their respective clients.’ and
‘When parties are proposing to enter into a contract, the manner in which the contract is to be created so as to bind them must be gathered from the intentions of the parties express or implied. In such a contract as this, there is a well-known, common and customary method of dealing; namely, by exchange, and anyone who contemplates that method of dealing cannot contemplate the coming into existence of a binding contract before the exchange takes place.
Lord Greene MR continued: ‘It was argued that exchange is a mere matter of machinery, having in itself no particular importance and no particular significance. So far as significance is concerned, it appears to me that not only is it not right to say of exchange that it has no significance, but it is the crucial and vital fact which brings the contract into existence. As for importance, it is of the greatest importance, and that is why in past ages this procedure came to be recognised by everybody to be the proper procedure and was adopted. When you are dealing with contracts for the sale of land, it is of the greatest importance to the vendor that he should have a document signed by the purchaser, and to the purchaser that he should have a document signed by the vendor. It is of the greatest importance that there should be no dispute whether a contract had or had not been made and that there should be no dispute as to the terms of it. This particular procedure of exchange ensures that none of those difficulties will arise. Each party has got what is a document of title, because directly a contract in writing relating to land is entered into, it is a document of title. That can be illustrated, of course, by remembering the simple case where a purchaser makes a sub-sale. The contract is a vital document for the purpose of the sub-sale. If he had not got the vendor’s part, signed by the vendor, to show to the sub-purchaser, he would not be able to make a good title. ‘If the argument for the purchaser is right and the contract comes into existence before exchange takes place, it would mean that neither party could call upon the other to hand over his part. The non-exchanged part would remain the property of the party who signed it, because exchange would be no element in the contract at all and therefore you could get this position, that the purchaser might wish to resell and would have no right to obtain from the vendor the vendor’s signed part.’

Judges:

Lord Greene MR, Cohen and Asquith LJJ

Citations:

[1948] Ch 93, [1947] 2 All ER 865

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Domb and Another v Isoz CA 29-Nov-1979
In a chain of conveyancing transactions, a solicitor sent his contract and deposit to his vendor’s solicitor, asking him to hold it to his order pending exchange. On the next day, that vendor’s solicitors agreed to an exchange of contracts over the . .
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 – Evans v James (Administratrix of the Estate of Thomas Hopkin Deceased) CA 5-Jul-1999
Before the parties called evidence, and having read the papers, the court considered that there was no real defence shown, and invited submissions. Negotiations for the grant of a tenancy had been terminated by the sudden illness of the proposed . .
Cited – Evans v James (Administratrix of the Estate of Thomas Hopkin Deceased) CA 5-Jul-1999
Before the parties called evidence, and having read the papers, the court considered that there was no real defence shown, and invited submissions. Negotiations for the grant of a tenancy had been terminated by the sudden illness of the proposed . .
Cited – Alan Estates Ltd v WG Stores Ltd and Another CA 1-Jul-1981
The proposed tenant wanted to get into possession, and was given a key and paid a quarter’s rent to the lessor’s solicitors to be held as stakeholders, before the lease had been formally granted. An undated lease and counterpart were executed and . .
Cited – The Anemone 1987
Owners wished to let their vessel on time charter to Afram Line Limited but were unwilling to do so without a guarantee. The negotiations were conducted by Centre Shipping on behalf of owners and Dipgrove Holdings on behalf of charterers. It was . .
Cited – Golden Ocean Group Ltd v Salgaocar Mining Industries Pvt Ltd and Another CA 9-Mar-2012
The court was asked ‘whether a contract of guarantee is enforceable where contained not in a single document signed by the guarantor but in a series of documents duly authenticated by the signature of the guarantor. It is common in commercial . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Contract, Legal Professions, Agency

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.183158

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 spaces had been allocated. The move was made, but the lease not completed. The tenant appealed a finding that after a dispute with the local authority, the spaces had been occupied under a bare licence, and were therefore excluded from the holding.
Held: The tenant’s agreement to the arrangement with the bare licence only had been accompanied by a reduction in the rent. On a renewal, the court was not able to grant a tenancy with a greater extent than had previously been granted. The appeal failed.

Judges:

Jack J

Citations:

[2008] EWHC 45 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – 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 . .
Cited – Crabb v Arun District Council CA 23-Jul-1975
The plaintiff was led to believe that he would acquire a right of access to his land. In reliance on that belief he sold off part of his land, leaving the remainder landlocked.
Held: His claim to have raised an equity was upheld. The plaintiff . .
Applied – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.263887

Mayor etc of Congleton v Pattison and Another: KBD 1 Jul 1808

The plaintiffs granted a lease of land subject to a covenant to give notice of those who worked in the silk mills to be erected and to pay fees for workers employed to cover the town’s responsibilities to inhabitants brought into the town. They now sought payment from the defendants, who were successors in title, and who had not given notice or made payments as required. The defendants argued that they were not liable since it was only a collateral covenant and did not run with the land.
Held: The claim failed: ‘This is a covenant in which the assignee is specifically named; and though it were for a thing not in case at the time, yet being specifically named, it would bind him, if it affected the nature, quality, or value of the thing demised, independently of collateral circumstances; or if it affected the mode of enjoying it. But this covenant does not affect the thing demised, in the one way or the other. It may indeed collaterally affect the lessors as to other lands they may have in possession in the same parish, by increasing the poor’s rate upon them; but it cannot affect them even collaterally in respect of the demised premises during the term. How then can it affect the nature, quality, or value of the thing demised? Can it make any difference to the mills, whether they are worked by persons of one parish or another: or can it affect the value of the thing at the end of the term, independently of collateral circumstances? ‘

Judges:

Lord Ellenborough CJ, Le Blanc J

Citations:

[1808] EWHC KB J66

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant, Land

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248376

Paradine v Jane: KBD 26 Mar 1647

The defendant tenant had had his house occupied by an invading army and he sought to be excused from paying rent.
Held: ‘where the law creates a duty or charge, and the party is disabled to perform it without any default in him, and hath no remedy over, there the law will excuse him. As in the case of waste, if a house be destroyed by tempest, or by enemies, the lessee is excused.’ and ‘when the party by his own contract creates a duty or charge upon himself, he is bound to make it good, if he may, notwithstanding any accident by inevitable necessity, because he might have provided against it by his contract.’
The performance of absolute promises is not excused by supervening impossibility of performance.

Citations:

[1647] EWHC KB J5, (1647) Aleyn 26, [1658] EngR 486, (1658) Sty 47, (1658) 82 ER 519 (C)

Links:

Bailii, Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Taylor and Another v Caldwell and Another QBD 6-May-1863
The defendants had agreed to hire a hall to give four concerts, but it burned down before they were to start.
Held: Blackburn J said: ‘where, from the nature of the contract, it appears that the parties must from the beginning have known that . .
Cited – National Carriers Ltd v Panalpina (Northern) Ltd HL 11-Dec-1980
No Frustration of Lease through loss of access
The tenant’s access to the premises was closed by the local authority because it passed by a derelict and dangerous building. The tenant argued that its tenancy was frustrated.
Held: The lease was not frustrated. The lease had a term of ten . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Contract

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248369

Sumeghova v McMahon: CA 24 Oct 2002

The question was whether the tenancy agreement was excluded from protection under the 1997 Act. The landlord had occupied rooms in one house, but then sought to occupy the premises let until his children left the other property. His occupation had continued for some ten years: ‘ It seems to me that a place where a person sleeps is of the most enormous importance in determining whether that is his only or principal home. Circumstances might arise where that might not be decisive, but on any view it is a matter which is going to influence a court very considerably. ‘ On the facts, the recorder could only properly have found that the property was the landlord’s ‘only or principal’ residence.

Judges:

Chadwick, Longmore LJJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 1581

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Protection from Eviction Act 1997 3A(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.217753