The tenant wished to assign the lease. The lease contained the ‘usual covenant’ not to assign without consent, that consent not to be unreasonably withheld. The landlord had refused a request from the tenant to assign the lease because she was ‘not satisfied with the area proposed to be used’.
Held: The tenant succeeded. Where the covenant states that the landlord must not unreasonably refuse that consent, the court has to have regard to the landlord’s actual state of mind at the relevant time.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘it is not right to say that this is an objective question, as counsel said. This matter cannot be considered without regard to the state of mind of the landlord herself as to her reasons for refusing consent. How otherwise can a lessee hope to see whether he can assign unless he knows the landlord’s reasons for objection’
Section 191 (3) of the County Courts Act 1959 gave the county court power to grant relief against forfeiture following peaceable re-entry. The landlord argued that the county court had no power at all to grant relief against forfeiture after a peaceable re-entry. This court, not surprisingly in view of section 191 (3), rejected that argument.
Pullin J, Lord Denning MR, Slade LJ, Cumming-Bruce LJ
[1963] 2 All ER 13, [1963] 2 QB 786
County Courts Act 1959 191(3)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Thatcher v CH Pearce and Sons (Contractors) Ltd 1968
(Bristol Assizes) The tenant was the tenant of a scrap yard. He had paid his rent promptly, until he was sent to prison. Thereafter he failed to pay the rent; and had no access to legal advice. The landlord peaceably re-entered for non-payment of . .
Cited – Vision Golf Ltd v Weightmans (A Firm) ChD 26-Jul-2005
A lease had been forfeited. The defendant firm of solicitors had negligently failed to apply for relief. They argued that that failure had in fact caused no loss to the claimants, since they would have lost the lease anyway.
Held: The ‘but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 16 October 2021; Ref: scu.234851