The demised premises were originally used by the tenant as a delicatessen. The landlord granted the tenant successive licences permitting the installation of eight tables for the consumption of food and non-alcoholic beverages, permitting the service of Italian wine for consumption with food and permitting the off-licence sale of beers, ciders and wine as well as the use of adjoining premises as a fire escape.
Held: Morland J rejected the argument that the grant of the licences amounted to forbearance by the lessor: ‘The next question is can the plaintiff rely upon the proviso to override the general law? In my judgment, on a proper construction of the proviso, they clearly cannot. The proviso . . does envisage a landlord having a wide discretion in dealing with a tenant, but, in my judgment, it is a wide discretion in dealing with a tenant who has broken his obligations under the lease. . The proviso, in my judgment, has to be construed in a way to give purpose to the object of the proviso which is . . to give a wide discretion to the lessor or landlord. On the other hand, the words of the proviso are clear, that they are designed for the situation where there is either a breach or an apprehended breach of covenant failure to pay the rent . . This case differs factually from the Selous case . . where there had been a breach of covenant in the erection of toilets. . . In the present case, the three licences were granted before the date the rent review was agreed. There was no question here of any breach of covenant, or the giving of time to remedy the breach.’
Judges:
Morland J
Citations:
[1995] 1 EGLR 79
Cited by:
Cited – Topland Portfolio No 1 Ltd v Smiths News Trading Ltd CA 21-Jan-2014
The claimant landlord sought to recover arrears of its tenant’s rent after the tenant’s insolvency from the defendant under the defendant’s guarantee of the rent. The defendant had argued successfully at first instance that the guarantee had been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.523151
