Lemmerbell Limited and Another v Britannia LAS Direct Limited: CA 8 Oct 1998

A break notice was served. The tenant had informally assigned the premises, and the break notice had been purported to be exercised by the assignee.
Held: The notice was invalid. ‘The present case seems to me to bear little resemblance to the type of error addressed in Mannai. There, words containing a mere slip, obvious to the reader of the notice when read in context, were construed as meaning what they were plainly intended to mean. In the present case there is no equivalent error. The break notice is not merely given on behalf of Life rather than Direct, but it contains no explanation as to why it was so given, viz Life was the successor in title to Direct. I found it impossible to see how, in these circumstances, it is permissible to construe the break notice as given on behalf of Direct.’ The notice was invalid not merely because it wrongly identified the tenant, on whose behalf it should have been served, but because a reasonable person in the position of the recipient landlord, would not have been confident that it had been served on behalf of the actual tenant.

Judges:

Peter Gibson LJ

Citations:

[1998] EWCA Civ 1506, [1998] 3 EGLR 67, [1999] L and TR 102, [1998] EG 138, [1998] 48 EG 188

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

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:

Cited – Lay and others v Ackerman and Another CA 4-Mar-2004
Notices had been served by tenants under the Acts. The properties were on a large estate where the freeholds had been divided and assigned to different bodies, and there were inconsistencies in identifying the landlords. The landlords served a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 25 November 2022; Ref: scu.144985