The parties agreed for a lease to be granted of a new building. Part had been intended to be excluded for shops, but permission was not obtained, the shops area was included and leased back. When the tenants sought to determine the lease, the landlord said that vacant possession of the whole was required.
Held: The lease was to be construed according to its words. The words were clear. The shops area was excluded only for the purposes of the rent review. The break clause was not obvious nonsense on its face. The difficulty only became apparent when looked at against the background. As to the issue of rectification, that was not so clear that it could be resolved summarily.
Judges:
Lord Justice Kennedy Lord Justice Buxton Lord Justice Carnwath
Citations:
[2003] EWCA Civ 721, Gazette 19-Jun-2003
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA v Ali, Khan and others (No 1); BCCI v Ali HL 1-Mar-2001
Cere Needed Releasing Future Claims
A compromise agreement which appeared to claim to settle all outstanding claims between the employee and employer, did not prevent the employee later claiming for stigma losses where, at the time of the agreement, the circumstances which might lead . .
Cited – Melanesian Mission Trust Board v Australian Mutual Provident Society PC 17-Dec-1996
(New Zealand) Lord Hope said: ‘The intention of the parties is to be discovered from the words used in the document. Where ordinary words have been used they must be taken to have been used according to the ordinary meaning of these words. If their . .
Cited – Homburg Houtimport BV v Agrosin Private Ltd (the ‘Starsin’) HL 13-Mar-2003
Cargo owners sought damages for their cargo which had been damaged aboard the ship. The contract had been endorsed with additional terms. That variation may have changed the contract from a charterer’s to a shipowner’s bill.
Held: The specific . .
Cited – Holding and Barnes Plc v Hill House Hammond Ltd (No 1) CA 20-Jul-2001
There had been a sale of an insurance business under which there were to be granted seven leases, two of which related to complete buildings and five to parts of buildings. All seven leases contained landlord’s repairing covenants. One of the leases . .
Cited – Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society HL 19-Jun-1997
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity
The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside.
Held: Investors having once . .
Cited – East v Pantiles Plant Hire Ltd CA 1981
The court considered the circumstances under which rectification could properly be ordered in respect of a deed. Brightman LJ said: ‘It is clear on the authorities that a mistake in a written instrument can, in certain limited circumstances, be . .
Cited – Pennell v Payne CA 1995
The operation of the break clause in a lease will (in the absence of provision to the contrary) have the effect of terminating not just the lease but also the underlease, and any inferior sub-tenancies. . .
Cited – Kemp v Neptune Concrete Ltd 1988
In a lease, the parties had agreed in negotiations that the six year term should be extended to 12 years, but had failed altogether to address the issue of a second rent review.
Held: The court would not manufacture an agreement on that point. . .
Cited – Swainland Builders Ltd v Freehold Properties Ltd CA 2002
Swainland Builders Ltd owned the freehold of a block of flats. It had granted 99-year leases at ground rents of all the flats except numbers 11 and 18. It had intended to sell the block subject to the retention of flats 11 and 18 which it initially . .
Appeal from – JIS (1974) Ltd v MCP Investment Nominees I Ltd ChD 2002
Hart J said: A particular intention may, as it seems to me, as a matter of the general nature of human discourse, be communicated by one party to another without express words necessarily being used. It may therefore sometimes be possible for the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Littman, Young v Aspen Oil (Broking) Ltd ChD 1-Jul-2005
The tenant sought to exercise a break clause in the lease. The landlord said that the exercise of the right was subject to the tenant having first complied with the terms of the lease.
Held: There was an obvious mistake in the clause which . .
Cited – FSHC Group Holdings Ltd v Glas Trust Corporation Ltd CA 31-Jul-2019
Rectification – Chartbrook not followed
Opportunity for an appellate court to clarify the correct test to apply in deciding whether the written terms of a contract may be rectified because of a common mistake.
Held: The appeal failed. The judge was right to conclude that an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant, Equity
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.182582