A notice exercising a tenant’s or landlord’s right to break a lease, must be given precisely as required by the break clause in the lease.
Nourse LJ said that the last moment of time on one day is not the same as the first moment of time on the next: ‘The two moments of time, albeit separated by an immeasurable stroke of midnight, have always been treated as separate’, and ‘If a notice clearly and specifically purports to determine a demise for a fixed term on a date not authorised by the lease, the date cannot be corrected simply because it is clear, first, what the correct date ought to be, secondly, that the wrong date was inserted by a slip and, thirdly, that the recipient might guess or even be certain that that was what happened. An exception can only be made where the date specified is an impossibility, either because it has passed or because it is on some other ground inconceivable that it was the date intended.’
Judges:
Nourse LJ
Citations:
Times 19-Jul-1995, Gazette 06-Sep-1995, [1995] 1 WLR 1508
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Distinguished – Sidebotham v Holland CA 1895
A house was let to the defendant as a yearly tenant ‘commencing on May 19 instant’, and on 17th November the landlord served a notice to quit ‘on 19th May next’.
Held: It related to a point of time which was held to be common to both dates and . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.83383