The landlord had opposed the tenant’s application to renew his tenancy, and the tenant also claimed title to additional land by adverse possession. The tenant asserted various business uses, some of which the landlord denied. The landlord went into liquidation, the title was disclaimed by the liquidator, and the mortgagee sold on to the defendant. At the same time in planning enforcement proceedings, the tenant had not asserted some of the uses he now claimed, and he remained in breach of planning controls. The landlord said that the failure to comply with planning obligations allowed the landlord to resist renewal.
Held: A pragmatic approach was appropriate in considering planning enforcement notices. The tenants argument that there was a technical breach by the planners was ineffective. The tenant’s activities on the site had been substantially unlawful over many years. It followed that under the 1954 Act, the court should refuse renewal. As to the claim for acquiring title by adverse possession, the evidence did not support possession over a sufficiently long period of time. The registered proprietor was entitled to possession.
Lewison J
[2008] EWHC 219 (Ch)
Bailii
Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 30(1)(c)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Turner and Bell v Searles (Stanford-le-Hope) Limited 1977
The landlord opposed the grant of a new tenancy. The business tenancy was an oral one, and he opposed renewal on the ground that the tenant was operating in breach of planning controls.
Held: An illegal use is a reason connected with the . .
Cited – Roger Raymond Jarmain v Secretary of State for Environment and Another CA 12-Apr-2000
Brooke LJ contrasted a ‘purist’ approach and a ‘pragmatic’ approach to questions of planning enforcement and preferred the pragmatic approach: ‘Anyone who had any experience of the operation of the former law relating to the enforcement of planning . .
Cited – Cresswell and Cresswell v Pearson Admn 20-Mar-1997
The grant of a temporary planning permission for a use that has previously been the subject of an enforcement notice has the effect of discharging the enforcement notice for all time, in so far as it relates to that use, rather than merely for the . .
Cited – Henry Boot Homes Limited v Bassetlaw District Council CA 28-Nov-2002
The claimant asserted that the behaviour of the local authority gave rise to a legitimate expectation such as to allow them to commence works in breach of a planning condition.
Held: The circumstances under which a claimant might rely upon a . .
Cited – Regina (Westminster City Council) v British Waterways Board HL 1985
The tenant occupied land next to a canal under a lease from the Defendants. The landlord opposed a renewal saying they wished to occupy the land themselves for the purposes of a marina. The tenant said the plan was unrealistic, because it would not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Landlord and Tenant, Planning
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.264534