The lease contained rent review provisions which required the landlord’s notice invoking the review to be issued within a certain period. The tenant claimed that the notice was issued out of time. The landlord contended that the words of the lease, strictly interpreted allowed the particular notice.
Held: The tenants were correct. The modern approach is to interpret leases in such a way as no longer to ‘confuse the meaning of words with the question of what meaning the use of the words was intended to convey’ The words ‘but not at any other time’ implied a defined period, already been identified as the period within which any notice had to be given. These words made time of the essence.
Mr Justice Rimer
Gazette 21-Mar-2002
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Assurance HL 21-May-1997
Minor Irregularity in Break Notice Not Fatal
Leases contained clauses allowing the tenant to break the lease by serving not less than six months notice to expire on the third anniversary of the commencement date of the term of the lease. The tenant gave notice to determine the leases on 12th . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – First Property Growth Partnership Lp v Royal and Sun Alliance Property Services Limited CA 27-Nov-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.168075