Jenkin R Lewis and Son Ltd v Kerman: CA 1970

On the facts, an agreement between landlord and tenant for an increase in the rent did not result in a surrender of the current lease and grant of a new one.
Russell LJ summarised a set of circumstances in which, on well-established principles, a lease will be treated as having been surrendered by operation of law: ‘If a tenant holding land under a lease accepts a new lease of the same land from his landlord he is taken to have surrendered his original lease immediately before he accepts the new one. The landlord has no power to grant the new lease except on the footing that the old lease is surrendered and the tenant by accepting the new lease is estopped from denying the surrender of the old one. This ‘surrender by operation of law’ takes effect whether or not the parties to the new lease intend it to take effect. Moreover, even if there is no express grant of a new lease the old lease will be surrendered by operation of law if the arrangements made between the landlord and the tenant are such as can only be carried out so as to achieve the result which they have in mind if a new tenancy is in fact created.’
Russell LJ
[1970] 3 All ER 414
England and Wales
Cited by:
CitedTake Harvest Ltd v Liu and Another PC 9-Mar-1993
(Hong Kong) An oral agreement to surrender a lease of less than three years might not defeat a rent arrears claim under an estoppel.
An unenforceable agreement can be used as a defence in an action brought by another party only if raising that . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 30 September 2021; Ref: scu.653307