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
