Category: Landlord and Tenant

Langinger v Earl of Cadogan and Cadogan Estates Ltd: LT 16 Oct 2001

LT Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act, 1993 Schedule 13 – Valuation of Leases disregarding rights – Evidence of settlements – Marginal variation from LVT’s valuation – Appeal and cross-appeal dismissed.

Citations:

[2001] EWLands LRA – 46 – 2000

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.225683

Earl Cadogan and Cadogan Estates Ltd v Cecil: LT 12 Feb 2001

LT LEASEHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT – premium payable for the grant of new lease of flat – value of extended lease – comparables to be taken into account – relationship between existing leasehold and freehold values – whether evidence on relativities relevant – appeal allowed – premium andpound;356,456

Citations:

[2001] EWLands LRA – 10 – 2000

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.225635

Phyllis Trading Ltd v 86 Lordship Road Ltd: LT 11 Jan 2000

LT LEASEHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT- Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 s.24 – premium payable for freehold – value of right to receive insurance commissions – value of right to manage. Appeal allowed in part – premium payable for freehold determined at andpound;3,610.

Citations:

[2000] EWLands LRA – 16 – 1999

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 24

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.225564

Longmint Ltd, Re: LT 26 May 2000

LVT SERVICE CHARGE – Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s19 – Block of 18 flats – management fees – interpretation of clause 1(d) of standard lease – jurisdiction of LVT – reasonableness – LVT exceeding jurisdiction – appeal allowed.

Citations:

[2000] EWLands LRX – 52 – 1999

Links:

Bailii

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.225593

City and Metropolitan Properties Ltd v Greycroft Ltd: ChD 23 Jan 1987

The tenant sought consequential damages from the landlord for the entire period during which the landlord had been in breach of his duty of repair under the lease when the tenancy in the lease had been in a previous owner.

Citations:

[1987] EWHC Ch 1, 283 EG 199, [1987] 2 EGLR 47, [1987] 1 WLR 1085, [1987] 3 All ER 839, [1987] 54 PandCR 266

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.245433

Montross Associates Investments SA v Moussaieff: ChD 1990

A covenant prohibited the lessee from carrying on a number of unacceptable trades and activities but ended, ‘but will use the demised premises either for the business of high class retailers of jewellery and/or antiques and/or luxury goods and/or travel agency or recognised bank the authorised name of which includes the word ‘Bank”.
Held: The words in the covenant ‘were emphatic negative than positive in effect’.

Judges:

Mr Thomas Morison QC

Citations:

[1990] 2 EGLR 61

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Montross Associates Investments SA v Moussaieff CA 1992
A covenant prohibited the lessee from carrying on a number of unacceptable trades and activities but ended, ‘but will use the demised premises either for the business of high class retailers of jewellery and/or antiques and/or luxury goods and/or . .
Cited – Blumenthal v The Church Commissioners for England CA 13-Dec-2004
The respondent argued that the power given to the Lands Tribunal by the section, did not extend to a power to vary a positive covenant.
Held: It could not be right to construe the obligation in the lease as a positive obligation rendering the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.220274

Wolf v Crutchley: ChD 23 Oct 1970

The plaintiff came to own two adjoining houses, let on long leases at low rents. She sought to use the legislation to enfranchise one property. The landlord objected saying that the houses had been used as guesthouses, and that a door had been opened up between them. They had come to be rated as one property.
Held: The house was structurally independent, and occupied as a dwellinghouse, and the section was complied with. It was not particularly useful to seek to import ideas from the Rent Acts. Three considerations applied, the separate leasehold interests, use as a residence, and being structurally separate.

Judges:

Lord Denning M.R., Phillimore and Cairns L.JJ.

Citations:

[1971] 1 WLR 99

Links:

lip

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Lake v Bennett CA 1970
The building had been constructed in 1869. It was used as a house on three floors with a basement. The ground floor was later used as a shoe repairing shop and then as a betting shop with living accommodation still used for dwelling purposes in the . .
Cited – Peck v Anicar Properties Ltd CA 15-Oct-1970
The tenant owned two leasehold properties, which had been joined into one. The tenant sought enfranchisement of only one of the properties to avoid being blocked by the rateable value limit, and by 2(2). . .

Cited by:

Cited – Malekshad v Howard De Walden Estates Limited CA 23-May-2001
The applicant sought the leasehold enfranchisement of two leasehold properties. They were contained in separate leases, but the property had been treated as one for some time. A part of one property extended under part of the other. The claim was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.174080

Long v Southwark London Borough Council: CA 27 Mar 2001

The Council outsourced the collection of refuse from the block of council flats where the tenant applicant lived. He asserted that the Council were in breach of their covenants as landlords in failing to ensure that the refuse was collected properly. The tenancy agreement required the landlord to take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure that the common parts were kept clean and tidy
Held: That duty could be satisfied by delegation, but only if there was in addition an adequate system for monitoring the contractors’ performance. It had been also a breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment.

Judges:

Lord Justice Ward, Lord Justice Chadwick and Lady Justice Arden

Citations:

Times 16-Apr-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 403

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Southwark London Borough Council v Mills/Tanner; Baxter v Camden London Borough Council HL 21-Oct-1999
Tenants of council flats with ineffective sound insulation argued that the landlord council was in breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment in their tenancy agreements.
Held: A landlord’s duty to allow quiet enjoyment does not extend to a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Local Government, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.168746

BHP Petroleum Great Britain Ltd v Chesterfield Properties Ltd and another: CA 30 Nov 2001

The claimant granted a lease to the respondents, and then assigned the reversion to another company. It gave notice to the tenant of its desire to be released from its obligations as landlord. The tenant did not serve any counter-notice. Defects occurred for which the landlord would be liable. The agreement for lease provided that the obligations were personal to the landlord and not capable of assignment. The question at issue was whether such a collateral agreement was covered by the 1995 Act. The definition in the Act referred to the landlord for the time being. That could not include obligations which were personal to the landlord, and so the landlord was not released by the assignment and notice.
In an agreement, the prospective landlord undertook to complete repairs. After the lease had been executed, the reversion was transferred, and he sought to use the Act to obtain its release from the obligation. The tenant took no steps to counter the notice.
Held: The covenant was a personal one, and therefore not given in his capacity as landlord ‘from time to time.’ Accordingly the Act could not be used to evade responsibility.

Judges:

Mr Justice Judge and Mr Justice Jonathan Parker and Mr Justice Bodey

Citations:

Gazette 01-Feb-2002, Times 21-Feb-2002, [2002] 2 WLR 672, [2002] 1 All ER 821, Independent 06-Dec-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1797, [2002] Ch 194

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 3 8 28

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – BHP Petroleum Great Britain Ltd v Chesterfield Properties Ltd and Another ChD 27-Feb-2001
An office buidling had a toughened glass cladding. When a cladding plate slipped and fell, the local authority issed a dangerous structures notice. The landlord served a notice to use the Act to divest himself of responsibility for repairs.

Cited by:

Appealed to – BHP Petroleum Great Britain Ltd v Chesterfield Properties Ltd and Another ChD 27-Feb-2001
An office buidling had a toughened glass cladding. When a cladding plate slipped and fell, the local authority issed a dangerous structures notice. The landlord served a notice to use the Act to divest himself of responsibility for repairs.
Cited – Avonridge Property Co Ltd v Mashru and others CA 14-Oct-2004
The lease released the landlord from his liability to repair after his assignment of the reversion. It appealed a finding that the provision was void under the 1995 Act, saying the clause was a personal covenant not caught by the Act.
Held: . .
Cited – London Diocesan Fund and others v Avonridge Property Company Ltd and Phithwa HL 1-Dec-2005
The defendant had taken on a lease of a parade of shops, and sub-let each shop for a full premium at a nominal rent. It sought to limit its own liability to pay the head rent by limiting the covenant in the sub-leases to pay the head rent to the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Contract

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.167555

Surrey County Council v Single Horse Properties Ltd: CA 26 Mar 2002

The tenant had received the landlord’s notice regarding renewal of the tenancy, and replied requesting a new tenancy, and later applied to the court. Before the end of the contractual term, the tenant vacated the property. The landlord claimed for rent for the period after the expiry of the contractual tenancy when the tenancy was extended by the Act.
Held: Section 64(1)(c) would continue the tenancy automatically, but only where the tenant had applied to court. The tenant having vacated the premises, the there was no occupation upon which to found an extended tenancy. It might be practical for tenants having served a notice but then deciding not to apply to court, to notify the landlord of their intention to let the tenancy expire.

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter, Lady Justice Arden and Sir Denis Henry

Citations:

Times 12-Apr-2002, Gazette 10-May-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 367, [2002] 14 EG 126, [2002] 4 All ER 143, [2002] 1 WLR 2106

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 25(1) 64(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Esselte Ab and British Sugar Plc v Pearl Assurance Plc CA 8-Nov-1996
The tenant was no longer in occupation of the demised premises when he served a s27 notice.
Held: A business tenancy ceases at end of the lease, if the premises are not actually occupied by the tenant despite any notices given. The occupation . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.168539

Hazel v Akhtar and Another: CA 12 Dec 2001

A landlord who had consistently accepted late payment of rent from his tenant could become estopped from refusing renewal of a business tenancy on the grounds of late payment of rent. That tenant’s conduct as regards payment of rent involving repeated minor breaches of his obligations under the lease had been acceptable to the landlords was significant. They were estopped in law and equity from insisting that the tenant comply strictly with the lease until such time as the tenant received clear notice that strict compliance was required.

Judges:

Lord Justice Henry and Sir Anthony Evans

Citations:

Times 07-Jan-2002, [2001] EWCA Civ 1883, [2002] 07 EG 124, [2002] 07 EG 124, [2002] L and TR 22, [2002] 1 EGLR 45, [2002] 2 P and CR 17, [2002] 1 P and CR DG18, [2002] 1 EGCS 73

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 30(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant, Estoppel

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.167349

NCR Ltd v Riverland Portfolio No1 Ltd (No 2): CA 21 Mar 2005

The court considered a claim that the landlords consent to an assignment of the lease had been wrongly withheld. Following a period of discussion and negotiation about the proposed assignment, on August 11 2003 the landlord’s solicitors informed the tenant’s solicitors that, in addition to the concerns already expressed, the landlord was seriously concerned about the covenant strength of the proposed undertenant, and on 20 August they formally confirmed the refusal of consent both on that ground and on grounds previously canvassed.
Carnwath LJ said: ‘On the first issue, I do not share the judge’s view of the significance of the delay between August 11, and August 20. I would make four points. First, a clear distinction needs to be drawn between informal exchanges, both internally and between the parties, and the formal process of application and decision contemplated by the Act. On the one hand, it is in all parties’ interests that there should be such free exchanges with a view to reaching an agreed solution without prejudicing their respective positions under the Act. On the other hand, the serious legal consequences resulting from the statutory scheme require that the process of application and decision should be subject to a reasonable degree of formality.’

Judges:

Carnwath LJ

Citations:

[2005] EWCA Civ 312, [2005] LandTR 25

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – NCR Ltd v Riverland Portfolio No.1 Ltd ChD 16-Jul-2004
The tenant complained that the landlord had unreasonably delayed approval of a proposed underletting.
Held: The court had to bear in mind that the consent was to an underlease, and that therefore there was no privity between the landlord and . .

Cited by:

Cited – No1 West India Quay (Residential) Ltd v East Tower Apartments Ltd ChD 6-Oct-2016
Consent to assignment – delay
Tenants under long residential leases challenged the refusal of the landlord to consent to particular assignments of apartments. The leases contained provisions saying that such consent was not to be unreasonably withheld. The landlord now appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.223750

9 Cornwall Crescent London Ltd v Kensington and Chelsea: CA 22 Mar 2005

The tenants offered to purchase the landlord’s freehold for andpound;210. The landlord made a counter offer to sell the freehold at andpound;130,000. The tenants argued that just as their offer had to be realistic, so the landlord’s had to be realistic, in default of which, the landlord having made no counter-proposal, the tenant’s notice was deemed accepted.
Held: The consequences of a failure to serve a notice under the Act were not the same for both landlords and for tenants, and nor was the duty to make an offer realistic. No default advantage accrued to the landlord from the failure to issue a counter-notice, and there was no imperative on the courts to impose similar conditions.

Judges:

Auld, Arden LJJ, Wilson J

Citations:

Times 29-Mar-2005, [2005] EWCA Civ 324, [2006] 1 WLR 1186

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Willingale v Global Grange Ltd CA 13-Mar-2000
The tenants of a block of flats issued a notice wanting to purchase the freehold at a price. The landlord failed to serve the appropriate counter-notice, and the tenants applied to court. The landlord asked the court to exercise its discretion to . .
Cited – Cadogan Estates Limited v Morris CA 4-Nov-1998
The tenant had served a notice to purchase the freehold of the premises at pounds 100.00, a formal nominal figure. The landlord claimed that the notice was invalid.
Held: The process was one of compulsory purchase. ‘The tenant is required to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cadogan and others v 26 Cadogan Square Ltd, Howard de Walden Estates Limited v Aggio and others HL 25-Jun-2008
In each case all or part of a building was let by a head-lease and then as self-contained units under sub-leases. The head lessees had served notices under the 1993 Act requiring new leases. The freeholder denied that they were qualifying tenants, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.223777

Bellcourt Estates Ltd v Adesina: CA 18 Feb 2005

The landlord sought to recover arrears of rent. The tenant said that she had surrendered the lease of the properties. The judge had held that she ceased to occupy the premises from November 2000, after which the landlord did not send a demand for the December rent, which the judge took to be an acceptance of the surrender.
Held: The landlord’s appeal was allowed, and he was entitled to his rent.
Longmore LJ adopted the description of abandonment in Megarry and Wade: ‘Abandonment of the premises by the tenant without more (even if rent is unpaid) is not a surrender, because the landlord may wish the tenant’s liability to continue. Nor is the delivery of the key of the premises to the landlord enough by itself. Even if he accepts it, it must be shown that he did so with the intention of determining the tenancy . . and not merely because he had no alternative.’ The requirement that the conduct of the parties must be inconsistent with the continuation of the lease is ‘a high threshold.’
Peter Gibson LJ set out the conditions for a deemed surrender: ‘A surrender may be express or by operation of law. The judge found that the relevant surrender was by operation of law. That requires not only the re-delivery by the tenant of possession of the demised premises, but also the acceptance by the landlord of that re-delivery. Otherwise the landlord is entitled to look to the tenant to pay the rent throughout the whole of the term of the tenancy, it not having been agreed that the tenant should have the right to surrender the tenancy prematurely (see Barrett v Morgan [2000] 2 AC 264 at pages 270, 271 per Lord Millett). Accordingly, the landlord’s consent is necessary. No deed or other writing is required, but the conduct of the parties must unequivocally amount to an acceptance that the tenancy has been surrendered.
The doctrine of surrender by operation of law is founded on the principle of estoppel, in that the parties must have acted towards each other in a way which is inconsistent with the continuation of the tenancy. That imposes a high threshold which must be crossed if the tenant is to be held to have surrendered and the landlord is to be held to have accepted the surrender. ‘

Judges:

Lord Justice Peter Gibson Lord Justice Longmore Lord Justice Wall

Citations:

[2005] EWCA Civ 208, [2005] 2 EGLR 33

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Relvok Properties Ltd v Dixon CA 1972
A lease was assigned to a Mr Krokidis who then departed. The landlords instructed Estate Agents to change the locks. The defendants said that that amounted to a surrender of the lease.
Held: They were wrong: ‘In my judgment Judge Irving . .
Cited – London Borough of Brent v Sharma and Vyas CA 1992
A tenancy of a flat was granted to Miss Vyas. She occupied it with Mr Sharma. They later married. She moved out and was given the tenancy of a council house elsewhere. She then wrote to Brent, the landlords, to say she was no longer sharing with Mr . .
Dicta doubted – Preston Borough Council v Fairclough CA 1982
The landlord sought to argue that the tenant had surrendered his tenancy.
Held: ‘The bare fact that a tenant leaves premises at a time when he owes rent is certainly insufficient to enable a court to draw the inference that there has been a . .
Cited – Tarjomani v Panther Securities Ltd CA 1983
The tenant disputed whether he had surrendered the property in the lease.
Held: The court considered the basis of an implied surrender: ‘In my judgment, it is indeed estoppel that forms the foundation of the doctrine. The doctrine operates . .
Cited – Proudreed Ltd v Microgen Holdings Plc CA 17-Jul-1995
The handing back of keys without more does not of itself constitute a lease surrender. The passage in Tarjoumi as to implied surrender would have been more correct if there was added the phrase: ‘or such as to render it inequitable for the landlord . .
Cited – Barrett and others v Morgan HL 27-Jan-2000
The landlord served a notice to quit on the head tenant under an understanding that the head tenant would not serve a counter notice. The effect was to determine the head and sub-tenancy. It acted as a notice to quit, and despite the consensual . .
Cited – Barrett and others v Morgan HL 27-Jan-2000
The landlord served a notice to quit on the head tenant under an understanding that the head tenant would not serve a counter notice. The effect was to determine the head and sub-tenancy. It acted as a notice to quit, and despite the consensual . .

Cited by:

Cited – Artworld Financial Corporation v Safaryan and Others CA 27-Feb-2009
The parties disputed whether the landlord had accepted the surrender of a lease. The tenant had handed in the keys. The landlord claimed rent for the subsequent period. The court had found surrender by operation of law, the landlord taking several . .
Cited – QFS Scaffolding Ltd v Sable and Another CA 17-Jun-2010
The parties disputed whether a lease from S to LDC had been surrendered. S and QFS were negotiating for a renewal lease. No new lease having been agreed the parties agreed to a monthly sum to be paid pending agreement. L then let to a third party . .
Cited – Padwick Properties Ltd v Punj Lloyd Ltd ChD 9-Mar-2016
The tenant had left the property, their solicitors writing informing the landlord that it had vacated the Property and asserting that ‘the security and safety of the Property will revert to your client.’ The keys were returned, and on the insolvency . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.223226

Lancecrest Limited v Dr Ganiyu Asiwaju: CA 11 Feb 2005

Rent review clause – whether a notice served by a landlord (a ‘trigger notice’) purportedly implementing a rent review was valid, notwithstanding the fact that it was served late; and if the landlord’s trigger notice was valid, whether the tenant had served a valid counter-notice challenging the rent specified in the trigger notice.

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Neuberger

Citations:

[2005] EWCA Civ 117, [2005] 1 EGLR 40

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Rennie v Westbury Homes (Holdings) Ltd ChD 7-Feb-2007
The parties had entered into an option agreement for development of land. The developer purported to exercise an option extendng the applicable period, but having accepted the funds, the land owner denied that it had been validly exercised.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.222958

Marya v Southall Properties Ltd: CA 27 Mar 2001

Application to re-reinstate an application for permission to appeal

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 909

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Southall Properties Ltd v Marya CA 27-Mar-2001
. .

Cited by:

See Also – Marya v Southall Properties Ltd (Re-instatement application) CA 27-Mar-2001
. .
See Also – Southall Properties Ltd v Marya CA 1-Mar-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Insolvency

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.218068

Marya v Southall Properties Ltd (Re-instatement application): CA 27 Mar 2001

Judges:

Arden LJ

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1150

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Southall Properties Ltd v Marya CA 27-Mar-2001
. .
See Also – Marya v Southall Properties Ltd CA 27-Mar-2001
Application to re-reinstate an application for permission to appeal . .

Cited by:

See Also – Southall Properties Ltd v Marya CA 1-Mar-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Insolvency

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.218067

Mount Eden Ltd v Folia Ltd and Prohibition London Ltd: ChD 2003

Judges:

Mr Justice Peter Smith

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 1815

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Design Progression Limited v Thurloe Properties Limited ChD 25-Feb-2004
The tenant applied for a licence to assign. The landlord failed to reply, anticipating that delay would allow it to generate a better lease renewal.
Held: The delay was unreasonable and a breach of the landlord’s statutory duty, and was an act . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.194086

Long Acre Securities Ltd v Karet: ChD 3 Mar 2004

The landlord of premises held under long residential leases at low rents gave notice of its intention to sell the freehold. The tenant objected that separate notices should have been given for the several structures involved.
Held: Provided there was sufficient sharing of the joint structures by the separate tenants, the notices would be adequate.

Judges:

Geoffrey Vos QC

Citations:

Times 24-Mar-2004, Gazette 01-Apr-2004

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 1 3 5, Housing Act 1996 Sch 6

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

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: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.195017

South v Chamberlayne: ChD 7 Sep 2001

The claimant occupied a house under a 75 year lease. She obtained an order requiring the landlord to sell the freehold reversion to her, and then set out to sell on her interest. She contracted to sell her interest in the property and her statutory rights, and later purported to assign her rights to the purchaser. The landlord refused to sell under 5(2), and she sought specific performance.
Held: The statutory rights could not exist outside the lease, and were not capable of separate assignment, The assignment was of no legal affect. Accordingly the claimant was entitled to specific performance.

Judges:

Lightman J

Citations:

Gazette 04-Oct-2001

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 5(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

applied – Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd and Others; St. Martins Property Corporation Ltd v Sir Robert McAlpine HL 8-Dec-1993
A contractor had done defective work in breach of a building contract with the developer but the loss was suffered by a third party who had by then purchased the development. The developer recovered the loss suffered by the purchaser.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.166238

Rock Garden Ltd v Covent Garden Market LP: ChD 24 Jul 2002

The tenant had been granted a lease, but without any right of access over neighbouring property. The landlord covenanted to use its best endeavours to obtain a right over adjoining property, but then relet it without reserving a right of access.
Held: The landlord being in breach, the tenant had an arguable case that he would be entitled to exercise access over the landlord’s own adjoining property without his consent. This went beyond the mere terms of the lease. The balance of convenience favoured the claimant, and an interim injunction in his favour was granted.

Judges:

Neuberger J

Citations:

Times 03-Oct-2002

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.177314

Bland v Ingrams Estates Ltd and Others (No 2): CA 11 Jul 2001

The tenant had allowed an equitable charge over his lease in favour of a creditor. The lease was forfeited by peaceable re-entry for non-payment of rent, and the chargee sought relief from forfeiture. A new tenancy had been granted in the mean-time.
Held: If relief was on the basis of payment of arrears, some part would be payable to the new tenant. The aim was to re-instate the landlord as if the rent had been paid, but what account was to be taken of the benefits of the new tenancy? The position was compared to a mortgagee having taken possession, and the lessor should be charged for a full occupation rent.
Chadwick LJ said: ‘Third, the object of the court when granting relief is to put the lessor (as well as the lessee) back in the position in which he would have been if there had been no forfeiture – see Egerton v Jones [1939] 2 KB 702, 706. It is this principle which underlies the practice of requiring the applicant, as a term of relief, to pay the costs properly incurred by the lessor in connection with the re-entry and the proceedings for relief. Accordingly, the applicant will normally be required to pay the lessor’s costs of the forfeiture proceedings, save in so far as those costs have been increased by the lessor’s opposition to the grant of relief, upon appropriate terms – see Howard v Fanshawe [1895] 2 Ch 581, 592, and Abbey National Building Society v Maybeech Ltd and another [1985] Ch 190, 206. Prima facie, the costs which the applicant will be required to pay to the lessor as a term of obtaining relief will be assessed on an indemnity basis; if it were otherwise the lessor would not obtain the indemnity against proper expenses to which he is entitled – see Egerton v Jones [1939] 2 KB 702, 710. But, to the extent that costs have been increased by the lessor’s unnecessary opposition to the grant of relief, the normal rules apply: the lessor will normally be ordered to pay the applicant’s costs on the standard basis, and the applicant will be able to set those costs off against what he would otherwise be required to pay to the lessor as a term of obtaining relief from forfeiture.’

Judges:

Chadwick LJ, Hale J

Citations:

Times 29-Aug-2001, Gazette 13-Sep-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1088, [2002] 1 P and CR 33, [2001] NPC 115, [2001] 3 EGLR 34, [2002] 1 All ER 244, [2001] 50 EG 92, [2002] Ch 177, [2002] L and TR 4, [2002] 2 WLR 361

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Bland v Ingrams Estates Ltd and Others (1) CA 18-Jan-2001
An equitable charge of a lease has standing to apply to court for relief from forfeiture for non-payment of rent, where the tenant did not himself seek relief, but only indirectly on the basis that the lessee and chargor has a duty to take . .

Cited by:

Cited – Patel and Another v K and J Restaurants Ltd and Another CA 28-Oct-2010
The landlord appealed against refusal of forfeiture for breaches of the lease. A covenant provided against use for immoral purposes, and the sub-tenant had been found to be running a brothel. The tenant said that he had been concerned of an action . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.162926

Burns v Martin (Martin’s Trustee and Executrix): HL 14 Feb 1887

Lease – Landlord and Tenant – Heirs and Executors – ‘Conjunctly and Severally.’
A lease was granted to two tenants and the survivor of them, excluding assignees and sub-tenants, whether legal or conventional, the tenants binding ‘themselves and their respective heirs, executors, and successors, all conjunctly and severally, renouncing the benefit of discussion,’ to pay the rent. One tenant became bankrupt and the other died. Held ( rev. judgment of the Second Division) that the liability of the deceased tenant did not cease with his death, but that his legal representative was liable for the future rents under the lease.

Judges:

Lord Blackburn, Lord Herschell, Lord Watson

Citations:

[1887] UKHL 337, 24 SLR 337

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.636751

NCR Ltd v Riverland Portfolio No.1 Ltd: ChD 16 Jul 2004

The tenant complained that the landlord had unreasonably delayed approval of a proposed underletting.
Held: The court had to bear in mind that the consent was to an underlease, and that therefore there was no privity between the landlord and the proposed sub-tenant. The tenant would remain liable for rent and repairs as before. The financial status of the proposed undertenant was not of great or vital significance. Two weeks should have been enough to make the decision. The failure to reply was to be treated as an equivalent to a refusal. ‘the contractual obligations of the landlord to its bank cannot, in my judgment, be a good reason for the landlord to withhold consent when, absent that obligation, he would grant consent.’ and ‘no landlord, acting reasonably, would, or could, have refused consent for the reasons given by Riverland.’

Judges:

Peter Leaver QC

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2073 (Ch)

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 1(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

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 – Houlder Brothers and Co Ltd v Gibbs CA 1925
The landlord owned two adjoining commercial properties. The tenant of one proposed to assign the lease to the tenant of the adjoining property. The landlord refused consent on the ground that if the assignment went ahead, it was likely that the . .
Cited – Pimms Ltd v Tallow Chandlers Company CA 1964
The landlord had refused its consent to an assignment of the remaining term of a lease to a development company, which desired to acquire the lease because of its nuisance value, and to use its interest as a basis for inducing the landlord to enter . .
Cited – Bickel v Duke of Westminster CA 1977
The freeholder had refused consent to an assignment of the head lease of a house to a lady who, if she had become tenant under the head lease for five years, would have been entitled to buy the freehold from the Estate. The existing tenant was a . .
Cited – Bates v Donaldson CA 1896
The landlord had refused consent to an assignment of the lease to a respectable and responsible prospective tenant, for the reason that the landlord wished to place commercial pressure on the existing tenant to surrender the lease to the landlord. . .
Cited – International Drilling Fluids v Louisville Investments (Uxbridge) Ltd CA 20-Nov-1985
Consent to Assignment Unreasonably Withheld
The landlord had refused a proposed assignment of office premises from a tenant who had occupied the premises as its permanent offices, to a tenant who proposed to use the premises as serviced offices – that is, for short-term rent to others. The . .
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 – Bromley Park Garden Estates Ltd v Moss CA 1982
When considering whether to give consent to an assignment of a lease, the landlord need consider only his own interests.
Slade LJ said: ‘I find it rather more surprising that, when the landlords came subsequently to question the validity of . .
Cited – Go West Ltd v Spigarolo and Another CA 31-Jan-2003
The tenant applied for a licence to assign the lease under section 1. The landlord refused consent, but the parties continued to negotiate. The tenant argued that the landlord’s continuation of negotiations showed the earlier counter-notice to have . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – NCR Ltd v Riverland Portfolio No1 Ltd (No 2) CA 21-Mar-2005
The court considered a claim that the landlords consent to an assignment of the lease had been wrongly withheld. Following a period of discussion and negotiation about the proposed assignment, on August 11 2003 the landlord’s solicitors informed the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.221586

Scribes West Ltd v Relsa Anstalt and others: CA 20 Dec 2004

The claimant challenged the forfeiture of its lease by a freeholder which had acquired the registered freehold title but had not yet registered its ownership. The second defendant had forfeited the lease by peacable re-entry for arrears of rent, and created a further lease.
Held: The judge was right to hold that, following the transfer, RB was the person entitled to the income of the land, and that therefore the forfeiture was valid.

Judges:

Rix, Mummery, Carnwath LJJ

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1744, [2005] 1 WLR 1847

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law of Property Act 1925 141

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Scribes West Limited v Relsa Anstalt and Another (No 1) CA 1-Jul-2004
The court handed down a New Practice Direction 52 for grounds of appeal, decisions in permissions to appeal, notices to respondents of appeals, appeal bundles etc. . .
See Also – Scribes West Limited v Relsa Anstalt and Another (No 2) (Practice Note) CA 20-Jul-2004
The court gave guidance on the destination of appeals from county court cases. It was vital to identify the precise nature of the order under appeal: ‘The judges of this court (and the staff at the Civil Appeals Office) have to interpret the order . .
Cited – In re Rose, Rose v Inland Revenue Commissioners CA 1952
The deceased had executed instruments of transfer and delivered them with the relevant certificates to the transferees.
Held: The transfers were transferred the whole of the deceased’s title both legal and equitable in the shares and all . .
Cited – Rose v Watson HL 7-Mar-1864
The buyer had paid deposits under an unconditional contract for the purchase of land induced by the misrepresentations of the seller. On discovering the falsity of the representations the buyer rescinded the contract and successfully resisted a . .
Cited – Matthews v Usher CA 1900
Section 25(5) of the 1873 Act did not give to a mortgagor any power of re-entry or right of forfeiture which he did not have before the Act. Romer LJ described the mortgagor’s position before the 1873 Act: ‘He had certain equitable rights and . .
Cited – Fairclough v Marshall CA 1878
The plaintiff owned land charged by a previous owner who had rented it subject to the defendant’s predecessor subject to a covenant not to use it as an beerhouse. The defendant now used it as a beerhouse, and said that since the plaintiff had . .
Cited – Trent v Hunt 1853
A mortgagor in possession continues to have a legal right to receive the rents in his own name. However since he had no legal interest in the reversion, he could not forfeit for breach of covenants in the lease. . .
Cited – William Brandt’s Sons and Co v Dunlop Rubber Co HL 1905
The court was asked whether instructions given by the bank’s customer to purchasers of rubber to make payment to its bank directly, amounted to an equitable assignment of debts, so that the bank could sue for their recovery. The bank sued the . .
Cited – Turner v Walsh CA 1909
The landlord sought to enforce the tenant’s repairing covenants. After the tenancy had been created, he had charged his interest. The tenant said that, since the lessor had conveyed his interest by way of mortgage, the right to sue lay exclusively . .
Not approved – Schalit v Joseph Nadler Ltd CA 1933
Mr Nadler was a lessee of property, part of which he sublet to the plaintiff. In 1931 he made a declaration of trust, under which he declared that the property was held in trust for his company, Joseph Nadler Ltd. Shortly after the company purported . .
Cited – Inland Revenue Commissioners v John Lewis Properties Ltd CA 20-Dec-2002
The taxpayer company purchased properties to be occupied by other companies within the same group. Having granted leases, they assigned the rental income for the first six years to a bank in return for a capital payment. They then sought relief from . .
Cited – Crumpton v Unifox Properties CA 1992
The court was asked as to the right of a transferee of the reversion to forfeit a lease in the period before registration of the transfer. Staughton LJ said that since the transferee did not yet have a legal estate and the claim was based on the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Wembley National Stadium Ltd v Wembley (London) Ltd and Others ChD 4-Apr-2007
Land at Wembley stadium had been sold to the defendants and leased back. The defendant assigned the freehold within the group, declaring that the lease was held in trust for the original freeholder. The claimant now said that the defendant assignee . .
Distinguished – Stodday Land Ltd and Another v Pye ChD 7-Oct-2016
The agricultural landlord sold part of his land subject to the respondent’s tenancy to the appellant. Before the transfer was registered, notices to quit were served by both the landlord and his buyer. The tenant challenged both notices in the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Registered Land

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.220495

Salford City Council v Torkington and Another: CA 9 Dec 2004

The council appealed against a finding that it was guilty of misrepresentation and breach of a collateral warranty in its lease of shop premises to the respondent. It had wrongly represented that other leases in the arcade excluded use as an off licence.

Judges:

Potter, Lord Justice Potter Lord Justice Mance Lord Justice Wall

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1646

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant, Torts – Other

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.220510

Blumenthal v The Church Commissioners for England: CA 13 Dec 2004

The respondent argued that the power given to the Lands Tribunal by the section, did not extend to a power to vary a positive covenant.
Held: It could not be right to construe the obligation in the lease as a positive obligation rendering the tenant liable to finding himself in breach of covenant in circumstances which he had no power to prevent. The parties could not have intended that result in 1951. If they had, it would have been clearly spelt out. If estate management considerations were behind the covenants then provision would have been made for another respectable tenant to be substituted.

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1688

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law of Property Act 1925 84

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Blythe Corporation’s Application 1962
A covenant required the purchasers to erect and maintain a chain link fence.
Held: The covenant was a positive personal covenant between the original vendor and the original purchaser and was not a restrictive covenant. The Lands Tribunal . .
Cited – Westminster City Council v Duke of Westminster ChD 1991
There was a covenant that the premises should not ‘be used for any art trade or business or profession whatsoever . . ‘ but should be ‘kept and used only for the purposes of the Grosvenor Housing Scheme as dwellings for the working classes . . ‘. . .
Cited – Abbey Homesteads (Developments) Limited v Northamptonshire County Council CA 1986
Clause 1 of an agreement between a company and the District Council required that the land should be sold subject to the conditions restricting and regulating the development. A clause provided ‘An area of 1.3 hectares adjacent to the playing field . .
Cited – Montross Associates Investments SA v Moussaieff CA 1992
A covenant prohibited the lessee from carrying on a number of unacceptable trades and activities but ended, ‘but will use the demised premises either for the business of high class retailers of jewellery and/or antiques and/or luxury goods and/or . .
Cited – Montross Associates Investments SA v Moussaieff ChD 1990
A covenant prohibited the lessee from carrying on a number of unacceptable trades and activities but ended, ‘but will use the demised premises either for the business of high class retailers of jewellery and/or antiques and/or luxury goods and/or . .
Cited – F L Schuler AG v Wickman Machine Tools Sales Limited HL 4-Apr-1973
The parties entered an agreement to distribute and sell goods in the UK. They disagreed as to the meaning of a term governing the termination of the distributorship.
Held: The court can not take into account the post-contractual conduct or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.220270

Dyment v Boyden and others: CA 26 Nov 2004

Mrs D had gone into business with the respondents to operate a residential care home. It was to be run from premises owned by the respondents. The respondents inter alia had failed to disclose previous convictions, the registration was cancelled, and the company was insolvent. Heads of agreement with an attached draft lease had been agreed but a lease was not signed by the Mrs D. As the business collapsed, Mrs D began another business taking the home’s residents. The respondents claimed arrears of rent from Mrs D.
Held:
Held: It is in principle wrong that an intended party to a lease should be treated as bound at a time before he has committed himself to the lease merely because the other party has delivered the lease in escrow and the escrow conditions are subsequently satisfied. The appeal by the respondents failed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Peter Gibson Lord Justice Clarke and Lord Justice Keene

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1586, Times 02-Dec-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Companies Act 1985 151, Insolvency Act 1986

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.219716

Kilcarne Holdings Ltd v Targetfollow (Birmingham) Ltd, Targetfollow Group Ltd: ChD 9 Nov 2004

The defendant entered into an agreement for lease, incurring substantial obligations. When it could not meet them it sought assistance from the claimant, who now claimed to have an interest in a joint venture. The draft documentation originally suggested a loan, but then changed. Disagreements persisted after completion.
Held: There was insufficient agreement to constitute a binding obligation immediately before completion. If the contract was for an interest in land, section 2 of the 1989 Act was not satisfied. Unlike section 40 of the Law of Property Act 1925, section 2 does not merely prohibit the enforcement of oral contracts; it prohibits the making of oral contracts. An oral offer and acceptance does not, therefore, amount to a contract at all. No Pallant v Morgan equity arose. The claim was dismissed.
Discussing Tootal, Lewison J said: ‘However, Tootal Clothing Ltd v. Guinea Properties Ltd Management Ltd (1992) 64 P and CR 452 does appear to support Mr Purle’s submission; and although other parts of that decision were doubted in Grossman v. Hooper [2001] EWCA Civ 615; [2001] 3 F.C.R 666 [a reference to Scott LJ’s obiter observations in paragraph 4], this part was not. Tootal binds me; and I must therefore apply it. What Tootal appears to me to decide is that s. 2 applies only to an executory contract for the sale or disposition of an interest in land; and that once all the land elements of an alleged contract have been performed, the remaining parts of the alleged contract can be examined without reference to s.2 . . ‘

Judges:

Lewison J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2547 (Ch), (2005) 2 PandCR 8

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Gibson v Manchester City Council HL 8-Mar-1979
The plaintiff sought specific performance of what he said was a contract for the sale of land.
Held: The appeal succeeded. In a case where a contract is alleged to have been made by an exchange of correspondence between the parties, in which . .
Cited – Smith v Henniker-Major and Co CA 22-Jul-2002
The claimant appealed the strike-out of his claim for professional negligence against the respondent solicitors. He claimed that the solicitors had acted in breach of their duty, and he then called a company meeting. Only he attended. He mistakenly . .
Cited – Grossman v Hooper CA 11-Apr-2001
The parties had lived together in the house, each contributing but held in the name of one only. The parties disputed the effect under the 1989 Act of a letter signed by each of them setting out their agreement as to the basis on which it was held. . .
Cited – Baird Textiles Ltd v Marks and Spencer plc CA 28-Feb-2001
The more embryonic is an oral ‘agreement’, the less likely it is that the parties intended to create legal relations at that stage. For there to be an agreement formed by conduct, there must be a course of dealing from which a contract is . .
Cited – Tootal Clothing Ltd v Guinea Properties Ltd CA 1992
By a single commercial transaction the parties agreed to the grant of a lease, on terms that Tootal (the intending lessee), would carry out shop-fitting works, have the benefit of a three months rent-free period during the which the works were to be . .
Cited – Godden v Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association CA 15-Jan-1997
The Plaintiff was a building contractor; the Defendant a housing association engaged in developing suitable sites for residential accommodation for letting to tenants. Before the contract the parties had successfully completed what was been called . .
Cited – Nweze and Another v Nwoko CA 29-Mar-2004
The parties had settled their dispute in an oral compromise agreement under which it was agreed that land would be sold at the best price reasonably obtainable. One now argued this was unenforceable as an agreement for the disposal of land requiring . .
Cited – Driver v Broad 1893
An agreement to create a floating charge counted as an interest in land. Kay LJ said that there was no distinction between a debenture which expressly gives the company liberty to dispose of the charged property ‘in the ordinary course of its . .
Cited – Morris v Baron and Co HL 1918
The House drew a distinction between a variation of a contract required to be evidenced in writing, and the rescission (or discharge) of such a contract. The former was itself required to be evidenced in writing; the latter was not.
Lord . .
Cited – McCausland and Another v Duncan Lawrie Ltd and Another CA 18-Jun-1996
The parties entered into a written contract for the sale of land which, in error, provided for completion on a Sunday. The parties varied the date to the Friday but did not execute a new contract which would comply with section 2(1) of the 1989 Act. . .
Cited – Forster v Hale 1800
An oral partnership agreement can be valid and if the partnership assets include land, then the land is held on a constructive trust for the partnership. . .
Cited – Dale v Hamilton 1846
An oral partnership agreement mat be valid despite the partnership owning land. . .
Cited – Pallant v Morgan ChD 1952
The agents of two neighbouring landowners orally agreed in the auction room that the plaintiff’s agent would refrain from bidding at auction and that the defendant, if his agent’s bid was successful, would divide the land according to an agreed . .
Followed – Banner Homes Group Plc v Luff Developments and Another CA 10-Feb-2000
Competing building companies agreed not to bid against each other for the purchase of land. One proceeded and the other asserted that the land was then held on trust for the two parties as a joint venture.
Held: Although there was no formal . .
Cited – Lloyds Bank Plc v Carrick and Another CA 17-Apr-1996
Mrs Carrick was a widow who orally agreed with her brother in law, a builder, to sell her house and pay him the proceeds, for which he would provide her with a new house. She did so and moved into the new house, which remained in the . .
Cited – Oxley v Hiscock CA 6-May-2004
The parties were not married, but had brought together their resources to purchase a home in the name of one of them. Nothing had been said about the respective shares on which the property was to be held.
Held: The shares were to be assessed . .
Cited – Pridean Limited v Forest Taverns Limited; Hipwell and Marshall CA 28-Nov-1996
The claimant owned a public house. It set out with the defendant to to acquire the premises or to take a lease of them. The defendant went into occupation, and carried out works. Negotiations continued, but broke down over the form of protection to . .
Cited – London and Regional Investments Ltd v TBI Plc and Others CA 22-Mar-2002
TBI was a property investor and developer with several subsidiaries. It agreed to sell some to London and Regional. The agreement provided for the vendor and the purchaser to use reasonable endeavours to agree the terms of a joint venture agreement . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cobbe v Yeomans Row Management Ltd and Others ChD 25-Feb-2005
Principles for Proprietary Estoppel
A developer claimed to have agreed that upon obtaining necessary planning permissions for land belonging to the respondents, he would purchase the land at a price reflecting its new value. The defendant denied that any legally enforceable agreement . .
Cited – Van Laethem v Brooker and Another ChD 12-Jul-2005
The claimant asserted an interest in several properties by virtue of a common intention constructive trust or by proprietary estoppel. The parties had been engaged to be married.
Held: ‘A [constructive] trust arises in connection with the . .
Appeal from – Kilcarne Holdings Ltd v Targetfollow (Birmingham) Ltd and Another CA 16-Nov-2005
The defendant had brought in the claimant in order to assist in satisfying its own obligations under a lease. The joint venture was not recorded in a formal agreement. The appellant asserted that a constructive trust had been created. The judge had . .
Cited – Oun v Ahmad ChD 19-Mar-2008
The parties agreed in writing for the sale of leasehold property to the claimant. One document had been signed, but later one said that it had not included an aportionment. Another document then set out the apportionment. When the defendant refused . .
Cited – Keay and Another v Morris Homes (West Midlands) Ltd CA 11-Jul-2012
The claimants sought damages alleging breach of contract. The defendants argued that the contract related to land, and since it was an oral agreement it was unenforceable under the 1989 Act.
Held: It was not possible that a contract which was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.219338

Clear Channel United Kingdom Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v First Secretary of State and Another: Admn 14 Oct 2004

The claimant sought a declaration that it had a tenancy for its occupation by an advertising station, and that it had protection under the 1954 Act. The defendant council said that only a licence had been granted.
Held: The grants included the areas surrounding the concrete bases on which the stations were erected. Despite the lease-like terms of the agreements, only licences had been granted since it was envisaged that the land owner could recover possession when required. The erection of the station was ‘expressed in the language of permissive use to place something on another’s land, and not as the grant of a proprietary interest in, and exclusive possession of, land.’

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2483 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 8, Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

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 – Addiscombe Garden Estates Ltd v Crabbe CA 1957
The trustees of a tennis club took possession of tennis courts and a clubhouse under a lease, and sought a new lease under the 1954 Act. The landlord said that they were only licensees and in any event were not entitled to a new lease since they . .
Cited – J A Pye (Oxford) Ltd and Others v Graham and Another HL 4-Jul-2002
The claimants sought ownership by adverse possession of land. Once the paper owner had been found, they indicated a readiness to purchase their interest. The court had found that this letter contradicted an animus possidendi. The claimant had . .
Cited – Powell v McFarlane ChD 1977
Intention to Establish Adverse Possession of Land
A squatter had occupied the land and defended a claim for possession. The court discussed the conditions necessary to establish an intention to possess land adversely to the paper owner.
Held: Slade J said: ‘It will be convenient to begin by . .
Cited – Hagee (London) Ltd v A B Erikson and Larson (a Firm) CA 1975
Tenancy at Will not protectable by 1954 Act
A tenancy at will falls outside the protection of the 1954 Act, though ‘parties cannot impose upon an agreement, by a choice of label, a nature or character which on its proper construction it does not possess’. Entry into possession while . .
Cited – Cardiothoracic Institute v Shrewdcrest Ltd ChD 1986
The landlord hoped to redevelop a site. The defendant was in possession as a business tenant pursuant to three successive leases for which orders had been made under section 38(4) of the 1954 Act excluding the operation of sections 24 to 28 of 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 . .
Cited – Wandsworth London Borough Council v Singh CA 1991
The Local Authority were lessees of some 500 square metres of public open space at St. Johns Hill in Wandsworth, which they and their horticultural sub-contractors visited periodically. It had been used by local inhabitants for leisure and . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Sinclair Collis Limited HL 7-Jun-2001
The appellants operated a system of placing their vending machines in clubs for the sale of cigarettes. They took as consideration a share of the profits of the cigarettes sold, and, in return, maintained the machines. They claimed that the machines . .
Cited – Wallace v C Brian Barratt and Son Limited and Lock CA 19-Mar-1997
The court was asked whether the defendant company, which was the tenant under an agricultural tenancy agreement of land comprising arable fields, was in breach of a covenant in the tenancy not to assign, underlet, or part with or share possession or . .
Cited – Graysim Holdings Ltd v P and O Property Holdings Ltd HL 24-Nov-1995
A market hall had been let to a tenant under a lease. The tenant fitted out the entire hall with stalls and entered into agreements with the stallholders, by which they paid the tenant a rent and service charge for services provided by the tenant. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Planning, Media, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.219260

Lodgepower Ltd v Taylor: CA 22 Oct 2004

The claimant was a tenant of agricultural land. He sought repairs, and served a notice on the executors of the now deceased landlord, but only later were letters of administration granted to the defendants. The judge had found the service of the notice good, because he had no notice of whom the notice could be served upon.
Held: It was impossible to serve a notice on someone who was a former agent of a former landlord.

Judges:

Lord Justice Peter Gibson Lord Justice Longmore Lindsay The Honourable Mr Justice Lindsay

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1367, Times 03-Nov-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Agriculture (Maintenance, Repair, etc.) Regulations 1973, Agricultural Holdings Act 1986

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Egerton v Rutter CA 1951
A tenant of an agricultural holding died intestate leaving her son and daughter in actual possession. Almost two months after the tenant’s death and before any Grant of Letters of Administration the landlord served a notice to quit addressed to the . .
Cited – Wilbraham v Colclough and others 1952
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agriculture, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.218849

Century 2000 Enterprises Ltd and Another v SFI Group Plc: CA 11 Dec 2001

The claimants appealed against rejection of their claim that an agreement entitled them to take a 35 years lease of the defendants. The contract had depended on complex conditions as to planning consents.
Held: The appeal failed: ‘Ultimately, it is a question of deciding what the contract says, construed in its commercial context but without speculation about the parties’ unexpressed hopes and motives.’

Judges:

Auld, Ward, Robert Walker LJJ

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1986

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society HL 19-Jun-1997
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity
The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside.
Held: Investors having once . .
Cited – Torvald Klaveness A/S v Arni Maritime Corporation (The Gregos) HL 28-Oct-1994
In a continuing charter when it was clear that the time of the charter will be exceeded, the contract allows an action for an anticipatory breach. Any new redelivery order was to be obtained after after it first became impossible to meet the charter . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.218602

Yaxley v McGlave: CA 29 Oct 2001

The tenant of a flat sought leave to appeal a possession order. He claimed a tenancy having over the years done much work on the rest of the house in return for which he had at first been allowed to live there rent free, but latterly to ocupy these rooms for andpound;160.00 a week.
Held: The appellant had no reasonable prospects of overturning the facts found by the judge. Leave refused.

Judges:

Rix LJ

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1694

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.218485

Gilje and others v Charlgrove Securities Ltd: CA 4 Oct 2001

The court was asked as to the liability of five underlessees to pay the rent for a caretaker employed by the landlord. The lease envisaged a caretaker living in the building. Previously the caretaker had been paid a larger wage but had then paid a rent.
Held: The landlord’s appeal was dismissed. Provisions relating to service charges are to be restrictively interpreted: ‘The landlord seeks to recover money from the tenant. On ordinary principles there must be clear terms in the contractual provisions said to entitle him to do so. The lease, moreover, was drafted or proffered by the landlord. It falls to be construed contra proferentem.’

Judges:

Mummery LJ, Kennedy LJ, Laws LJ

Citations:

[2004] 1 All ER 91, [2001] EWCA Civ 1777, [2002] 1 EGLR 41, [2002] L and TR 33, [2002] 16 EG 182

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 20B

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Agavil Investments CA 3-Oct-1975
The cost of providing a caretaker’s accommodation in a building was recoverable under the lease by the landlord as part of the service charge although the relevant schedule also referred to specific expenses which were also recoverable. The . .
Cited – Lloyds Bank plc v Bowker Orford ChD 1992
The court considered service charge provisions in a lease. Neuberger J said: ‘if the lease enumerates a number of aspects of the costs of the provision of the caretaker’s flat for which the tenant is liable, there is obviously a fairly formidable . .

Cited by:

Cited – Wembley National Stadium Ltd v Wembley (London) Ltd and Others ChD 4-Apr-2007
Land at Wembley stadium had been sold to the defendants and leased back. The defendant assigned the freehold within the group, declaring that the lease was held in trust for the original freeholder. The claimant now said that the defendant assignee . .
Cited – Norwich City Council v Marshall LT 23-Oct-2008
LT LANDLORD AND TENANT – service charges – liability – whether lessee liable for management costs – held lessee liable for costs incurred in providing specified services under lease but not otherwise – Landlord . .
Cited – OM Property Management Ltd v Burr CA 3-May-2013
The claimant managed a development where the respondent was one of the tenants. Through a mix up, the company had failed to collect sufficient sums to discharge communal fuel service charges. They now sought payment of the apportioned but . .
Cited – Ground Rents (Regisport) Ltd v Dowlen and Others UTLC 22-Apr-2014
groundrents_UTLC_0414
UTLC LANDLORD AND TENANT – service charges – lengthy delay by utility provider in delivering invoices to new landlord – invoices delivered to previous landlord – when costs ‘incurred’ – section 20B Landlord and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.218420

Hawkesbrooke Leisure Ltd v Reece-Jones Partnership: ChD 18 Nov 2003

The claimant sued its solicitors for failing to make application in time for a new tenancy. The solicitors said that the claimant, a company limited by guarantee, and not allowed to distribute any trading profit, was not protected under the 1954 Act.
Held: An inability to distribute its profits did not mean a company was not carrying on a business. In any event, as a body corporate under the 1954 Act, it needed only to show that it carried on an activity.

Judges:

Etherton J

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 3333, (2004) 25 EG 172

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant, Professional Negligence

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.216551

Allied London Investments Ltd v Hambro Life Assurance Ltd (No 2): ChD 1984

The lessors sued the original lessees for rent due under the lease after the term had been assigned to another. The lessors had given a licence to assign and the licence contained a guarantee from a third party to the lessors that the assignee would pay the rent etc. Subsequently the lessors released the guarantee. The original lessees contended that the release of that guarantee released them from their covenant in the lease to pay the rent. The obligation was in the following form: ‘The tenant for itself and its assigns and to the intent that the obligations may continue throughout the term covenants with the landlord as set out in the third schedule hereto.’
Held: The court rejected that contention: ‘it is quite clear that the position is not as between the assignee and the original lessee that of principal debtor and surety.’ The fact of assignment mattered ‘not one jot or tittle.’

Judges:

Walton J

Citations:

[1984] 1 EGLR 16

Statutes:

Land Registration Act 1925 24(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz CA 24-Jul-2003
Leases had been granted. They had been assigned to the defendant who had assigned them again. The last assignee became insolvent and statutory demands were served on the claimant under the 1995 Act for rent. The claimant paid the sums due and now . .
Cited – Scottish and Newcastle Plc v Raguz ChD 11-Apr-2006
The defendant had taken assignments of the term of two underleases from the claimant, and then re-assigned them to a limited company with guarantors of the rent, and they in turn re-assigned the leases. The last company became insolvent. The . .
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Registered Land

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.186113

Stonebridge Housing Action Trust v Gabbidon and Another: ChD 21 Nov 2002

The landlord sought possession of a flat on the grounds that there were arrears of rent, and that one of the tenants had used it for the sale of drugs. It now appealed a suspension of the order, saying that the unlawful user meant that suspension should be allowed only in exceptional circumstances.
Held: The Mousah case did establish that possession should be granted, but it had not decided whether a stay could be granted. Lloyd J. did ‘not accept that the drug incidents were conclusive factors which required [the judge] to reject the tenant’s application whatever might be the other relevant circumstances.’ It was necessary to examine with care the facts of the individual case. The offending tenant had left, and the judge was not compelled to make the order immediate. The judge had correctly addressed the three elements of the existence of grounds, the reasonableness of the order, and whether his discretion to suspend should be exercised. His decision was not to be interfered with.
Lloyd J said: ‘albeit that the observations of the Court of Appeal in City of Bristol v. Mousah are cogent, they do not by themselves compel the conclusion that when the court is addressing the question [‘as to whether it should exercise its wide discretion under s.85 of the 1985 Act to suspend a possession order or to stay execution’] it can come to only one possible answer in a case where incidents [of the kind in the present case] – which are to some extent comparable with those that were issues in the Mousah case – have been proved’.

Judges:

Lloyd J

Citations:

Times 13-Dec-2002

Statutes:

Housing Act 1985 85

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – City Council of Bristol v Mousah CA 25-Feb-1997
The tenant had been found guilty of allowing the premises to be used for the consumption and supply of crack cocaine. The assistant recorder held that it was not reasonable to make an order for possession. The council appealed.
Held: The . .

Cited by:

Cited – Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council v Hensley CA 1-Nov-2007
The secure tenant was convicted of cultivating cannabis in the house. The council sought possession, and now appealed an order granting only possession suspended whilst the tenant complied with the terms of the tenancy agreement, seeking outright . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Housing

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.178433

Beanby Estates Ltd v Egg Stores (Stamford Hill) Ltd: ChD 9 May 2003

The landlord had served a notice under the 1954 Act. The tenant served a counter notice, but the question was whether he was late, or out of time.
Held: The combination of the various provisions meant that the landlord’s notice had irrevocably been deemed to have been served and on the day it was posted. The tenant’s notice was therefore out of time. Of the cases cited only Blunden was directly to the point.

Judges:

Neuberger J

Citations:

Times 15-May-2003, Gazette 03-Jul-2003, [2003] 21 EG 190

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 23, Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 25, Recorded Delivery Act 1962 1, Interpretation Act 1978 7

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Chiswell v Griffon Land and Estates Ltd CA 1975
Megaw LJ said: ‘Section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 lays down the manner in which service of a notice can be effected. It is provided, as what I may call at any rate the primary means of effecting service, that it is to be done either by . .
Cited – Italica Holdings SA v Bayadea 1985
. .
Cited – Galinski v McHugh 5-Oct-1988
A landlord’s notice under section 4 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 had been served on the tenant’s solicitors, who had confirmed that they had authority to accept service. Later the tenant challenged the validity of the service.
Held: . .
Cited – Railtrack Plc v Gojra and Gojra CA 28-Nov-1997
The tenant served two notices under the Act.
Held: The tenant’s application was out of time. If the first notice was valid, a later notice did not act to restart time running and the application for a new tenancy had to be begun within four . .
Cited – Blunden v Frogmore Investments Ltd CA 30-Apr-2002
The tenant had a lease of business premises. The premises were damaged in a terrorist attack, and the landlord served a notice terminating the lease. The lease gave the right to the landlord to determine the lease if the property was incapable of . .
Explained – Lex Services plc v Johns 1990
The section in the earlier Act was modified to give effect to the 1978 Act. . .
Cited – Regina v County of London Quarter Session Appeals Committee ex parte Rossi CA 1956
A bastardy summons had been served on the defendant but he had not been properly served with a written notice indicating the date of an adjourned hearing. He sought an order for certiorari to quash the decision of the court.
Held: Where there . .
Cited – Hosier v Goodall QBD 1962
A notice of intended prosecution was sent to the defendant in connection with an allegation of driving without due care and attention. When the matter came before the court, the defendant argued that the prosecution had failed to meet the . .
Applied – Anderton v Clwyd County Council (No 2); Bryant v Pech and Another Dorgan v Home Office; Chambers v Southern Domestic Electrical Services Ltd; Cummins v Shell International Manning Services Ltd CA 3-Jul-2002
In each case, the applicant sought to argue that documents which had actually been received on a certain date should not be deemed to have been served on a different day because of the rule.
Held: The coming into force of the Human Rights Act . .

Cited by:

Cited – C A Webber (Transport) Ltd v Railtrack plc CA 15-Jul-2003
A notice served under s25 of the 1954 Act, being sent by recorded delivery to the tenant at its place of abode, was irrebuttably deemed to have been served on the day it was posted. Section 23 of the 1927 Act operated to disapply section 7 of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.182407