Category: Landlord and Tenant

Reedbase Ltd and Another v Fattal and Others: CA 19 Apr 2018

The court was asked ‘ (1) whether the manner in which the landlord replaced the appellant tenants’ terrace tiles satisfied the landlord’s obligation to make good damage to the demised premises under the terms of the appellants’ underlease; and (2) whether the trial judge, HHJ Hornby, erred in holding that the landlord had conducted sufficient consultation with the appellant tenants in relation to its proposal to replace the terrace tiles previously laid by them.’

Judges:

Arden, Singh LJJ, Sir PatrickElias

Citations:

[2018] EWCA Civ 840

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608742

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond v 4-6 Trinity Church Square Freehold Ltd: CA 18 Apr 2018

The court was concerned with the proper construction of section 1(4) of the 1993 Act in the context of a dispute about the nature of the rights which must be granted over a garden at the rear of the property.

Judges:

McCombe, Noylan, Asplin LJJ

Citations:

[2018] EWCA Civ 764

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 1(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608738

Rich v Basterfield: 3 Jul 1947

Although the owner of property may, as occupier, be responsible for injuries arising from acts done upon that property by persons who are there by his permission, though not strictly his agents or servants, such liability attaches only upon parties in actual possession. – Where, therefore, an action was brought against A., the owner of premises, for a nuisance arising from smoke issuing out of a chimney, to the prejudice of the plaintiff in his occupation of an adjoining messuage, on the ground that A, having erected the chimney, and let the premises with the chimney so erected, had impliedly authorised the lighting to a fire therein. Held that the action would not lie. Held, also, that, inasmuch as the premises were in the occupation of B a tenarit, at the time the fires were lighted, A. was entitled to a verdict on a pIea of ‘not possessed,’ the allegation as to possession, having reference to the time when the nuisance complained of was committed, and not to the time at which the chimney was erected.

Citations:

[1847] EngR 693

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Rich v Basterfield 5-Feb-1846
A landlord can be liable in nuisance for the acts of his tenant where the very nature of the letting would lead to that nuisance: ‘If a landlord lets premises, not in themselves a nuisance, but which may or may not be used by the tenant so as to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Nuisance

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.573095

Scott and Another v City and County of Swansea: ChD 1 Feb 2001

The parties had agreed that certain improvements provided by the intended landlord as an inducement for the tenant to enter into the lease, would be excluded from consideration in an eventual lease on the valuation for a rent review. The lease did not contain such a provision. The lease was rectified as the parties had never intended to withdraw the exception, and an arbitration finding negligence was set aside as the parties had been misled as to the contents of a note recording the meeting at which the terms of the agreement had been recorded.

Citations:

Gazette 01-Feb-2001

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.89061

Smith v Express Dairy Limited: ChD 1954

Express Dairy (as registered owner) let a shop to Smith, but then transferred its interest to a subsidiary company. The subsidiary did not become registered as owner but nonetheless served notice to quit on Smith.
Held: Unless the subsidiary could be treated as having given notice to quit as agent of Express Dairy the notice to quit was bad, because the reversion remained vested in Express Dairy.

Judges:

Harman J

Citations:

[1954] JPL 45

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.570350

Renshaw v Magnet Properties South East LLP: 2008

(Central London County Court)

Judges:

HHJ Collins CBE

Citations:

[2008] 1 EGLR 42

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Brown and Root Technology Ltd and Another v Sun Alliance and London Assurance Comp Ltd CA 19-Dec-1996
The claimant had a personal right to exercise a break clause in a lease of which it was the registered proprietor, that right coming to an end when it assigned the lease. The lease was assigned to another company within the group which took over . .

Cited by:

Cited – 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

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.570351

Divall v Harrison: CA 1992

A notice to quit the agricultural land had been given in the name of the residuary beneficiary, not in the name of the executors in whom the reversion was still vested.
Held: The notice was invalid. The residuary beneficiary was not the equitable owner, having only the right to see that the estate was duly administered.

Citations:

[1992] 2 EGLR 64

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.570352

Lever Finance Ltd v Needleman’s Trustee: ChD 1954

In a mortgage, the transferee of a registered charge appointed a receiver during the ‘registration gap’.
Held: Until registration the transferee could not exercise the statutory power to appoint a receiver.

Judges:

Harman J

Citations:

[1956] Ch 375

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.570354

London and County (A and D) Ltd v Wilfred Sportsman Ltd: CA 1971

There is no reason of principle why a right of forfeiture arising from a failure to pay rent, cannot be waived in exactly the same way as a right of forfeiture arising from a breach of any other covenant in the Lease.
Russell LJ said: ‘The other argument put forward was that there can never be waiver of forfeiture for non-payment of rent by recognition of the continued existence of the Lease because, as has often been said, a right of re-entry for non-payment of rent is a mere security for the payment. I am not aware of any authority for this proposition, and I see no justification in principle for making this distinction between a default in an obligation to pay rent and any other obligation. Of course, rent may be demanded after the forfeiture days are passed, and, indeed, part payment accepted on account without waiving the forfeiture; this does not recognise the continued existence of the Lease beyond the date when that rent was payable. I refer in this connection also to the passage in Shepherd v Berger [1892] 1 QB 597, 599, which appears to me inconsistent with the proposition advanced.’

Judges:

Lord Donovan. Russell, Megaw LJJ

Citations:

[1971] 1 Ch 764

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Central Estates (Belgravia) Ltd v Woolgar (No 2) CA 20-Jun-1972
Right to forfeit waived by rent demand
The landlords’ managing agents learned that the tenant had been convicted of keeping a brothel at the premises and served a section 146 notice intending to forfeit the tenancy. He told his staff and instructed them not to demand or accept rent. But . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.568016

Ninety Broomfield Road RTM Co Ltd v Triplerose Ltd: UTLC 28 Nov 2013

UTLC LANDLORD AND TENANT – Right to Manage – whether a single RTM company can exercise the right in respect of more than one set of premises – whether separate claim notices are required – whether qualifying conditions in section 72 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 must be met in respect of each set of premises

Citations:

[2013] UKUT 606 (LC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.518808

Case XX 36 H 8 Dyer, 61 By The Judges of Both Benches Challenge, Hundredors, Panel Sec 4 And 5 Anne;, Cap 16 That Venires At Westm Are To Be De Corpore Comitatus: 1220

Cestuy que use for life (after the statute of 1 R 3, which enables cestuy que use to make leases, and before the statute, of 37 H 8, of uses) makes a lease to A. for the life of A cestuy que use dies : A. is only a tenant at sufferance. An act of parliament cannot work a wrong ; and this Act guides this conveyance, and does not suffer it to extend beyond tbe estate of him who made the lease. ‘Tis otherwise of a lessee for life, who makes a feoffment, at common law he has gained a fee-simple : and this case is, and remains at common law, not directed by any Act of parliament. An attorney has power to make a lease for the life of the lessor; he makes a lease for the life of the lessee : this lease is void : in this case, if the lessee enters, he is a disseisor- ‘Tis otherwise in the principal case : for the said attorney had only a power, and exceeded it ; in the principal case, the interst of the use is accoupled with the power of the statute As where the statute of 32 II 8 gives a power to devise to any person two parts of land holden by knight’s service ; a man devises the whole : this is good for two parts, by reason of the interest and power in the same person, in the devisor.

Citations:

[1220] EngR 456, (1220-1623) Jenk 201, (1220) 145 ER 135 (C)

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Land, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.461368

Case LXIX 1 Lev 198 3 Co 13 A B 29 Ass Pl 23 24 E 3, 28, 30, Sir John Langford’s Case Sir William Herbert’s Case, 3 Co 11 Dyer, 315 Age, Stat Prerogative, Recognizance, etc: 3 Jan 1220

If when the conusor is dead, a scire facias is awarded against the heir and tertenants, and the sheriff returns all warned (though in truth he has omitted one or other) ; the tenants are put to their audita querela, and cannot plead this matter to the scire facias ; for it is against the sheriff’s return.

Citations:

[1220] EngR 39, (1220-1623) Jenk 36, (1220) 145 ER 26

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.460951

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.

Judges:

Alderson B

Citations:

(1853) 9 Exch 14

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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

Land, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.276787

Beasley v D’Arcy: HL 1800

The House upheld the decision of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland to grant the tenant relief from forfeiture. The landlord had cut timber on the land, and the tenant sought damages. The tenant came into Chancery to restrain the landlord’s proceeding for non-payment of rent, and insisted that damages demandable in this collateral way ought to be applied to discharge the rent. There had been an award ascertaining the damage; but it had been made after the time limited for making the award and therefore the matter still rested in damages. At a time when the ejectment was brought, this was the demand which the tenant had against the landlord, an unascertained, unliquidated demand arising from the act of the landlord, affecting the land in the occupation of the tenant. The tenant gave a consent to judgment admitting the rent demanded to be due; but he insisted that he was entitled to a certain sum for damages for cutting the timber. On the answer there was an injunction until the hearing, on the terms of lodging the rent in court, which terms were not complied with: The habere was executed in 1797; the cause was heard in 1798, and an issue directed to try whether the tenant had sustained any and what damage from cutting the timber. The jury found damage in the amount of andpound; 103 6s. A supplemental bill was then filed praying that the tenant might be restored to possession, and the value accounted for in the usual way. The answer insisted on the statute Geo. I stating that the ejectment was brought for non-payment of rent. The cause came on again in 1799, when the plaintiff was declared entitled to restitution, on paying what was due for rent after deducting the damages. That was a case in which the court proceeded, not on a question whether so much was due for rent or not; but there being a collateral demand on the person to whom the rent was to be paid, and the amount of that demand appearing to have been nearly equal to the rent, but the subject of the cross-action, and which could not by any possibility be set-off by way of defence in the ejectment whether this afforded a distinct ground for equitable relief.

Citations:

(1800) 2 Sch and Lef 403

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – British Anzani (Felixstowe) Ltd v International Marine Management (UK) Ltd ChD 19-Dec-1978
Money expended by a tenant on discharging his landlord’s covenants will in appropriate circumstances operate as a partial or a complete discharge so as to furnish a defence at law to a claim for unpaid rent; and where the tenant has suffered damage . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.247749

Englefield Court Tenants v Skeels: LVT 1990

Tenants sought to exercise their rights to purchase the freehold under the 1987 Act. The landlord had granted a reversionary lease of part to her husband.
Held: The tenants took the freehold subject to the lease.

Judges:

Lady Fox

Citations:

[1990] 2 EGLR 230

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 5

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.245013

Weigall v Waters: 1795

Where a party has fairly laid out money on repairing what he was not bound to repair, a court of equity might grant him relief. The tenant had paid andpound; 30 but Lord Kenyon still regarded the cross-claim as one for uncertain damages. The quantum of the sum must have been either unchallenged or unchallengeable before it could be regarded as deductible.

Judges:

Lord Kenyon

Citations:

(1795) 6 TR 488

Cited by:

Cited – British Anzani (Felixstowe) Ltd v International Marine Management (UK) Ltd ChD 19-Dec-1978
Money expended by a tenant on discharging his landlord’s covenants will in appropriate circumstances operate as a partial or a complete discharge so as to furnish a defence at law to a claim for unpaid rent; and where the tenant has suffered damage . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Equity

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.247744

Britel Corporation NV v First Penthouse Ltd: QBD 25 Jul 2002

The court refused to continue interim injunctions under a development agreement.

Judges:

HH Judge Seymour QC

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 1763 (QB).

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Meretz Investments Nv v ACP Ltd QBD 27-May-2002
Meretz sued ACP for monies alleged to be due under agreements. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Britel Corporation Nv and Another v First Penthhouse Ltd and others CA 7-Aug-2002
Application for permission against judge’s refusal to continue interim injunctions.
Held: Leave was refused. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.241330

Webb v Sandown Sports Club Ltd: 2000

The tenant sought to argue that having vacated the premises before the end of the lease, he had surrendered and there was no continuing statutory tenancy under which he might be liable to pay rent.
Held: The tenant had left various items in the premises including papers and stock. The effective date of quitting would be the date upon which these were removed, and not before.

Citations:

[2000] EGCS 13

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.216648

Family Housing Association v Jones: CA 1990

The association as licensee of a local authority granted what was described as a licence to the defendant to occupy premises on a temporary basis.
Held: The court found that a licence granted to satisfy a housing duty was a tenancy.
Slade LJ rejected an argument that there existed special circumstances whereby the defendant, albeit in exclusive possession of the premises, was not a tenant.

Judges:

Balcombe LJ, Farquarson LJ, Slade LJ

Citations:

[1990] 1 WLR 779

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – National Car Parks Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v Trinity Development Company (Banbury) Ltd CA 18-Oct-2001
The land owner appealed a decision that the claimant was a tenant of its premises. It had granted what was described as a licence to the claimant, but stated explicitly that the claimant’s servants should not in any way impeach the land-owner’s . .
Cited – Desnousse v London Borough of Newham and others CA 17-May-2006
The occupier had been granted a temporary licence by the authority under the homelessness provisions whilst it made its assessment. The assessment concluded that she had become homeless intentionally, and therefore terminated the licence and set out . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Housing

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.216560

10 H.7.2: 1494

Waste brought by an abbot; and he counted how the defendant had committed waste in various things in lands leased to him by his predecessor for a term of years; and assigned as waste . . . the permitting of a certain house to fall . . .
Also the non-covering of a house is not waste except for the ‘putrefaction’ of bare timbers for lack of roofing of a house . . .
And it was adjudged that one who holds for the same term is punishable for permissive waste, where he allows a ruinous house to fall down where the house was not ruinous at the time of the initial lease. But if the house was ruinous at the time of the initial lease and falls down during the time of one who holds for such a term there is no remedy for the initial lessor because he does not have nor could he have any cause of action against anyone in this case. But where the house was in good repair at the beginning and after becomes ruinous he in whose time it falls down will be punished during the lifetime of the lessor or his lessee . . .
And it was held by all the justices that if I lease a house for a life term or term of years if the house is not roofed at the time of the making of the lease the lessee is not obliged to roof it; and also if the house is ruinous at the time of the making of the lease this is good matter for the termor to show in a writ of waste. . .

Judges:

Bryan CJ, Fyneux and Vavasour JJ

Citations:

[1494] [Co Litt 53a [b]]

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Dayani v London Borough of Bromley TCC 25-Nov-1999
LA Tenant liable for permissive waste
The local authority was tenant of properties which it sub-licensed to homeless persons for three years was liable for having allowed the properties to deteriorate. It was claimed that they were liable for permissive waste as tenants for a fixed . .
Cited – Dayani v London Borough of Bromley TCC 25-Nov-1999
LA Tenant liable for permissive waste
The local authority was tenant of properties which it sub-licensed to homeless persons for three years was liable for having allowed the properties to deteriorate. It was claimed that they were liable for permissive waste as tenants for a fixed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.196739

Parsons v Trustees of Henry Smith’s Charity; Parson v Gage: HL 1974

The House left open the exact meaning of the phrase ‘material’ in the section noting that whether a part is material is an issue which must be largely factual and one of common sense. The legislative purpose of the rule that divisions of the building horizontally were to be disregarded lay in the difficulty, in relation to units arising by horizontal division, of providing for the enforcement of necessary positive covenants after they became freehold by enfranchisement.

Judges:

Lord Wilberforce

Citations:

[1974] 1 WLR 435

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 2(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Parsons v Trustees of Henry Smith’s Charity CA 1973
‘Materiality under the section ‘must mean material to the tenant or to his enjoyment of the house.’ . .

Cited by:

Cited – Malekshad v Howard de Walden Estates Limited HL 5-Dec-2002
A house and an adjoining building had been first demised under one lease, then separated vertically. Two separate residential properties now existed.
Held: The vertical division meant that the two houses could not be enfranchised as one under . .
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: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.192024

Parsons v Trustees of Henry Smith’s Charity: CA 1973

‘Materiality under the section ‘must mean material to the tenant or to his enjoyment of the house.’

Judges:

Stephenson LJ

Citations:

[1973] 1 WLR 845

Statutes:

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 2(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Doubted – Malekshad v Howard de Walden Estates Limited HL 5-Dec-2002
A house and an adjoining building had been first demised under one lease, then separated vertically. Two separate residential properties now existed.
Held: The vertical division meant that the two houses could not be enfranchised as one under . .
Appeal from – Parsons v Trustees of Henry Smith’s Charity; Parson v Gage HL 1974
The House left open the exact meaning of the phrase ‘material’ in the section noting that whether a part is material is an issue which must be largely factual and one of common sense. The legislative purpose of the rule that divisions of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.192023

Stait v Fenner: 1912

The lease to Fenner contained a break clause. The lease was legally assigned to X and then to Y. Y then agreed to assign back to Fenner (but no formal assignment was entered). Fenner then ‘assigned’ to Z (the contract saying that he was not obliged to get in the bare legal estate outstanding in Y). Z then exercised the break clause.
Held: The beneficiary under a bare trust is not thereby constituted the agent of the trustee. A break clause was operable by the tenant if he gave notice and if he should pay all the rent and perform all the covenants up to the determination of the lease. The question for the court was whether that condition for payment and performance was a condition precedent to be performed before the expiration of the term: ‘it must have been intended, in construing a covenant of this kind, that the question whether the lease does or does not exist after the expiration of the seven or fourteen years should be capable of being decided there and then and not left to future contingency leaving both the lessor and the lessee in uncertainty as to whether they are bound by the lease or whether they are not.’ In this case the condition was a condition precedent.
Neville J held: ‘In my opinion, the legal estate in the term being outstanding, it was not competent for the lessee or any assignee of the lessee who had not the legal estate vested in him to give a notice.’

Judges:

Neville J

Citations:

[1912] 2 Ch 504

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Dun and Bradstreet Software Services (England) Ltd; Dun and Bradstreet Software Services Ltd v Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association and General Accident Linked Life Assurance CA 9-Jun-1997
Break clauses had been exercised on behalf of the plaintiffs. The defendant landlords appealed a decision upholding the notices. A penalty rent had been sought.
Held: There had been no sufficient agency established to validate the notice. 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 . .
Cited – 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.

Trusts, Agency, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.188165

Rich v Basterfield: 5 Feb 1846

A landlord can be liable in nuisance for the acts of his tenant where the very nature of the letting would lead to that nuisance: ‘If a landlord lets premises, not in themselves a nuisance, but which may or may not be used by the tenant so as to become a nuisance, and it is entirely at the option of the tenants so to use them or not, and the landlord receives the same benefit whether they are used or not, the landlord cannot be made responsible for the acts of the tenants.’

Citations:

[1847] 4 CB 783, (1847) 136 ER 715, [1846] EngR 391, (1846) 2 Car and K 257, (1846) 175 ER 106

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Mowan v London Borough of Wandsworth and Another CA 21-Dec-2000
The claimant tenant sought damages from the landlord and neighbour and fellow tenant for nuisance caused by the neighbour’s aberrant behaviour.
Sir Christopher Staughton said: ‘there is a strong trend in the cases in favour of the landlord who . .
Cited – Smith v Scott ChD 1973
It is not open to the court to reshape the law relating to the rights and liabilities of landowners by applying the principle of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 and thus saying that a landowner owed a duty of care to his neighbour when selecting . .
Cited – LMS International Ltd and others v Styrene Packaging and Insulation Ltd and others TCC 30-Sep-2005
The claimants sought damages after their premises were destroyed when a fire started in the defendants neighbouring premises which contained substantial volumes of styrofoam. They alleged this was an unnatural use of the land.
Held: To . .
Cited – Lawrence and Another v Fen Tigers Ltd and Others QBD 4-Mar-2011
The claimants had complained that motor-cycle and other racing activities on neighbouring lands were a noise nuisance, but the court also considered that agents of the defendants had sought to intimidate the claimants into not pursuing their action. . .
Appeal from – Rich v Basterfield 3-Jul-1947
Although the owner of property may, as occupier, be responsible for injuries arising from acts done upon that property by persons who are there by his permission, though not strictly his agents or servants, such liability attaches only upon parties . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Nuisance

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.186071

Shanly v Ward: CA 1913

A tenant challenged his landlord’s refusal of consent to an assignment.
Held: The refusal was reasonable. The onus of proving that consent has been unreasonably withheld is on the tenant. It was not enough to show that other lessors might have accepted the proposed assignees; the lessors were not to be held to have witheld their licence unreasonably if they acted as a reasonable man might have done in the circumstances.
Lord Cozens-Hardy MR said: ‘It was not enough to show that other lessors might have accepted the proposed assignees; the lessors were not to be held to have withheld the licence unreasonably if in the actions they took they acted as a reasonable man might have done in the circumstances.’

Judges:

Lord Herbert Cozens-Hardy MR

Citations:

[1913] 29 TLR 714

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Estates Governors of Alleyn’s College v Williams ChD 14-Jan-1994
A scheme had been approved by the court under the Act, conferring management powers on managers. They were to consider applications for permission to construct new buildings, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld.
Held: It was for the . .
Adopted – In Re Town Investments Ltd Underlease ChD 1954
The court considered a proposed underletting at a rent well below the current market rent, and in consideration of a substantial premium. It had been refused by the Landlord.
Held: The lessor had reasonably withheld consent. It was enough that . .
Approved – 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 – 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 – 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: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.181856

Electricity Supply Nominees Limited v The National Magazine Company Limited; The National Magazine Company Limited v Electricity Supply Nominees Limited, Matthew Hall Limited, Otis Plc, Dtz Debenham: TCC 12 Aug 1998

Apportionment of service charges.

Judges:

Judge Hicks QC

Citations:

[1999] 1 EGLR 130

Cited by:

Cited – Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd CA 15-Apr-2008
The appellant had contracted to provide office accomodation to the defendant. The air conditioning did not work and there were other defects. The appellant now challenged a finding of liability and that its contract terms which were said to totally . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.136088

Kingerlee Holdings Ltd v Dunelm (Soft Furnishings) Ltd: ChD 21 Jan 2013

There had been an agreement for a lease of a property on a commercial estate yet to be built. The parties disagreed when the tenant was to be obliged to take the lease. The proposed landlord sought summary judgment.
Held: The court had all the evidence before it now which would be available at a full hearing, and ‘The position is, in my view, sufficiently clear on the material that I have to enable me to conclude that on the points in dispute the defendant has no defence.’ Judgment accordingly.

Judges:

Mann J

Citations:

[2013] EWHC 47 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – BBC Worldwide Ltd v Bee Load Ltd (T/A Archangel Ltd.) ComC 8-Feb-2007
The parties had contracted for the exploitation of recordings of live music performances held by the claimant. Summary judgment was sought.
Held: Where, as here, the court was already in possession of all the evidence which might be presented . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Litigation Practice

Updated: 11 April 2022; Ref: scu.470476

Department of the Environment v Royal Insurance PLC: ChD 1986

The court was asked whether the fact that the tenants under a fourteen year lease had entered into occupation of the premises one day after the term began meant that they had thereby failed to occupy for ‘the whole of the fourteen years,’ in which event, of course, they were entitled only to the basic rate of compensation when at the end of the fourteen year term they quitted the premises.
Held: The tenant had not occupied the premises for the full term so as to allow a clima for double compensation.
Falconer J reviewed the authorities, and said: ‘It seems to me that all those sorts of cases are different from the present case in that they were all examples of cases where there had been physical occupation prior to the gap or break which occurred and the real question to be determined every time by the courts was: had the absence for that period, for whatever reason, effected a cesser of the occupation which had already been in existence? In the present case, as I say, it is common ground that as a physical fact the initiation of the occupation by the contractors going in did not commence until [the second day of the term].
He rejected the argument from de minimis, saying: ‘In s.37(3)(a) as I think I have already indicated, it seems to me that Parliament has made its intention perfectly clear. It provides for a period of fourteen years and not only does it provide for a period of fourteen years immediately preceding the termination to be the qualifying period for the higher rate under para (a) of sub-section (2) it says: ‘During the whole of the fourteen years immediately preceding’, emphasising in my mind that there must be a complete fourteen years. Cases have arisen, of course, where the occupancy has been broken in the ways I have indicated; they give rise to the question of whether the break that occurs causes a cesser of the occupation. But that question does not arise when the occupation has not yet commenced.’

Judges:

Falconer J

Citations:

[1986] 54 P and CR, [1987] 1 EGLR 83

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 37(3)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 11 April 2022; Ref: scu.472575

Theodorus Engelbertus Sanders v Ronald van der Putte: ECJ 14 Dec 1977

Europa Convention of 27 September 1968 – exclusive jurisdiction – matters relating to tenancies of immovable property – strict interpretation – business carried on in immovable property rented from a third party by the lessor -agreement to run the business – application of article 16 excluded – dispute as to the existence of such an agreement
The assignment, in the interests of the proper administration of justice, of exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of one contracting state in accordance with article 16 of the convention results in depriving the parties of the choice of the forum which would otherwise be theirs and, in certain cases, results in their being brought before a court which is not that of the domicile of any of them. Having regard to that consideration the provisions of article 16 must not be given a wider interpretation than is required by their objective. Therefore, the concept of ‘ matters relating to… Tenancies of immovable property ‘ within the context of article 16 of the convention must not be interpreted as including an agreement to rent under a usufructuary lease a retail business (verpachting van een winkelbedrijf) carried on in immovable property rented from a third person by the lessor. The fact that there is a dispute as to the existence of such an agreement does not affect the reply given as regards the applicability of article 16 of the convention.

Citations:

C-73/77

European, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.132636

Target Home Loans Ltd v Iza Ltd: CC 20 Jan 2000

(Central London County Court) The bank recovered possession of leasehold premises. The landlord served a notice requiring repairs on the tenant, but refused to allow the mortgage in possession a key to enter the property. They then claimed to have recovered possession peacefully. The bank applied for relief from forfeiture and succeeded. The notice was pointlessly served on the tenant who no longer had access to carry out any repairs, and the counter-notice was effective.

Citations:

Gazette 20-Jan-2000

Statutes:

Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938

Landlord and Tenant, Land

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.89719

Sampson and Others v Wilson and Others: CA 19 Apr 1995

A landlord’s estate management agent was not jointly liable with the Landlord for damages for acts of harassment of the tenant committed by the landlord.

Citations:

Times 19-Apr-1995

Statutes:

Housing Act 1988 27 28

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Abbott v Bayley CA 20-Jan-1999
Appeal against award of damages for breach by landlord of covenant for quiet enjoyment and under the 1988 Act.
Held: The landlord’s appeal failed. ‘There is no fixed point at which it can be said that breaches of the covenant of quiet . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Agency

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88993

Retail Parks Investment Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scotland): IHCS 22 Apr 1996

Bank forced to comply with keep open clause – cash dispensers insufficient

Citations:

Times 22-Apr-1996

Citing:

Appeal from – Retail Parks Investments Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scotland) OHCS 18-Jul-1995
Obligation to use premises as bank was enforced against a leaseholder wanting to close the business. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Scotland

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88748

Retail Parks Investments Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scotland): OHCS 18 Jul 1995

Obligation to use premises as bank was enforced against a leaseholder wanting to close the business.

Citations:

Times 18-Jul-1995

Cited by:

Appeal from – Retail Parks Investment Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scotland) IHCS 22-Apr-1996
Bank forced to comply with keep open clause – cash dispensers insufficient . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Scotland

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88749

Tindall Cobham 1 Ltd and Others v Adda Hotels and Others: CA 5 Sep 2014

Tenants had assigned their leases to subsidiary companies as part of a company re-organisation, and now claimed the benefit of the 1995 Act to relieve them from liability under an authorised guarantee agreement.

Judges:

Longmore, Patten, Ryder LJJ

Citations:

[2014] EWCA Civ 1215, [2015] 1 P and CR 5

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 5 24(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Tindall Cobham 1 Ltd and Others v Adda Hotel ChD 14-Jul-2014
Urgent application made by a number of claimants who are freeholders of a number of hotels and the application is in respect of the terms of each lease. The present application is an application for expedition of an application for summary judgment . .

Cited by:

Cited – Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd SC 3-Jul-2019
The company appealed from rejection of its contention that its former employee should be restrained from employment by a competitor under a clause in her former employment contract. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.536422

Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper’s Garage (Stourport) Ltd: HL 1968

Agreement in Restraint of Trade Unenforceable

The defendant ran two garages under solus agreements with the plaintiffs who complained when the defendants began to purchase petrol from cheaper alternative sources. The House was asked whether the solus agreements were be regarded in law as an agreement in restraint of trade.
Held: An agreement in restraint of trade is not generally unlawful if the parties choose to abide by it: it is only unenforceable if a party chooses not to abide by it. It was necessary to ascertain the legitimate interests of the landlords which they were entitled to protect and to discover whether those restraints exceeded what was adequate for that purpose. The doctrine of restraint of trade had no application to restraints imposed on persons who, before the transaction by which the restraints were imposed, had no right whatsoever to trade at all on the land in question.
Lord Hodson said: ‘When one remembers that the basis of the doctrine of restraint of trade is the protection of the public interest, it is not difficult to see how the law developed in its conception of reasonableness as the test which must be passed in order to save a contract in restraint of trade from unenforceability.’
Lord Reid said: ‘It has often been said that a person is not entitled to be protected against mere competition. I do not find that very helpful in a case like the present. I think it better to ascertain what were the legitimate interests of the appellants which they were entitled to protect and then to see whether these restraints were more than adequate for that purpose.’

Judges:

Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Hodson, Lord Pearce, Lord Wilberforce

Citations:

[1968] AC 269, [1967] UKHL 1, [1967] 1 All ER 699

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Young v Timmins 1831
The servant had agreed not to work for anyone else bu the employer, but he might have been given no work and he received no remuneration for considerable periods.
Held: He had been deprived of a livelihood, and the agreement was in restraint . .
Cited – Nordenfelt v Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company HL 1894
Exceptions to Freedom to Trade
The purchaser of the goodwill of a business sought to enforce a covenant in restraint of trade given by the seller.
Held: At common law a restraint of trade is prima facie contrary to public policy and void, unless it can be shown that the . .
Cited – Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Australia v Adelaide Steamship Company PC 1913
ag_adeleaidePC1913
There was an agreement between a group of colliery owners and a group of shipowners which was ancillary to an agreement between the colliery owners themselves. Each agreement was in restraint of trade.
Held: Lord Parker explained the doctrine . .
Cited – Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow and Co HL 18-Dec-1891
An association of shipowners agreed to use various lawful means to dissuade customers from shipping their goods by the Mogul line.
Held: The agreement was lawful in the sense that it gave the Mogul Company no right to sue them. But (majority) . .
Cited – Foley v Classique Coaches Ltd CA 1934
The sellers had sold to the buyers a piece of land to use in the latter’s business as coach proprietors, and also contracted with them to supply all the petrol required for that business ‘at a price to be agreed by the parties in writing and from . .
Cited – English Hop Growers v Dering CA 1928
The defendant farmer had agreed to sell his crop of hops to the Society for five years. He failed to do so and was sued. He replied that the contract was in restraint of trade.
Held: The restraint was reasonable. Scrutton LJ allowed that it . .
Cited – McEllistrim v Ballymacelligott Co-operative Society HL 1919
The Co-operative had changed its rules to prevent any member from selling (except under heavy penalty) any milk produced by him in a large area of County Kerry to anyone except the Society, and a member could not terminate his membership without the . .
Cited – Servais Bouchard v Princes Hall Restaurant CA 1904
A restaurant in Piccadilly had contracted with a supplier of burgundy not to sell burgundy to its customers other than such as it had purchased from the supplier. The restaurant broke the contract
Held: A contract by which defendant Restaurant . .
Cited – Herbert Morris Ltd v Saxelby HL 1916
For a covenant in restraint of trade to be treated as reasonable in the interests of the parties ‘it must afford no more than adequate protection to the benefit of the party in whose favour it is imposed.’ There is a need for the court to consider . .
Cited – United Shoe Machinery Company of Canada v Brunet PC 23-Mar-1909
(Quebec) The defendant Company leased machinery under a condition that it should not be used in conjunction with machinery made by any other manufacturer.
Held: The condition was not in restraint of trade. . .
Cited – Biggs v Hoddinott 1898
The owner of a freehouse had agreed to a tie in favour of a brewer who had lent him money. . .
Cited – Warner Brothers Pictures v Nelson 1936
Bette Davis contracted with the plaintiff film company to render her services as an actress exclusively to that company. With nearly six years of the contractual term yet to run, Ms Davis contracted with a third person to appear as a film artist. . .

Cited by:

Cited – WWF -World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund), World Wildlife Fund Inc v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc ChD 1-Oct-2001
The Fund sought summary relief against the use of the sign ‘WWF’ by the defendants, in breach of a contract. The defendants urged that the contract operated in restraint of trade. There had been long running and widespread trade mark disputes, . .
Cited – Alec Lobb (Garages) Ltd v Total Oil Ltd CA 1985
The court was asked whether the terms of a lease and lease back amounted to an unconscionable bargain and was unenforceable.
Held: The court affirmed the decision at first instance, but emphasised the need for unconscientious behaviour rather . .
Cited – Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd SC 3-Jul-2019
The company appealed from rejection of its contention that its former employee should be restrained from employment by a competitor under a clause in her former employment contract. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Commercial

Leading Case

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.180312

Tindall Cobham 1 Ltd and Others v Adda Hotel: ChD 14 Jul 2014

Urgent application made by a number of claimants who are freeholders of a number of hotels and the application is in respect of the terms of each lease. The present application is an application for expedition of an application for summary judgment of the construction of the leases.

Judges:

Peter Smith J

Citations:

[2014] EWHC 2637 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Tindall Cobham 1 Ltd and Others v Adda Hotels and Others CA 5-Sep-2014
Tenants had assigned their leases to subsidiary companies as part of a company re-organisation, and now claimed the benefit of the 1995 Act to relieve them from liability under an authorised guarantee agreement. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.537532