Consent to assignment – delay
Tenants under long residential leases challenged the refusal of the landlord to consent to particular assignments of apartments. The leases contained provisions saying that such consent was not to be unreasonably withheld. The landlord now appealed against a finding that it had unreasonably withheld consent.
Held: It remained reasonable (the proper test) for the landlord to require a bank reference even though substantial premiums were being paid. Similarly, it was reasonable for the landlord to survey the properties since each had been occupied by a series of short term tenants, and the right of the landlord to make such an inspection was under a different provision of the lease. However the costs proposed by the landlord were unreasonable.
The requirement for determination of an application within a reasonable time, as interpreted in the authorities, means that once a formal application has been made the landlord has only a limited time within which to deal with it, usually measured in weeks rather than months.
Henderson J
[2016] EWHC 2438 (Ch)
Bailii
Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 1 3, Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Shanly v Ward CA 1913
A tenant challenged his landlord’s refusal of consent to an assignment.
Held: The refusal was reasonable. The onus of proving that consent has been unreasonably withheld is on the tenant. It was not enough to show that other lessors might have . .
Cited – Pimms Ltd v Tallow Chandlers Company CA 1964
The landlord had refused its consent to an assignment of the remaining term of a lease to a development company, which desired to acquire the lease because of its nuisance value, and to use its interest as a basis for inducing the landlord to enter . .
Cited – International Drilling Fluids v Louisville Investments (Uxbridge) Ltd CA 20-Nov-1985
Consent to Assignment Unreasonably Withheld
The landlord had refused a proposed assignment of office premises from a tenant who had occupied the premises as its permanent offices, to a tenant who proposed to use the premises as serviced offices – that is, for short-term rent to others. The . .
Cited – Straudley Investments Limited v Mount Eden Land Limited CA 7-Oct-1996
In considering a refusal of consent to a sub-letting, two considerations in addition to those already esatblished in law applied: ‘(1) It will normally be reasonable for a landlord to refuse consent or impose a condition if this is necessary to . .
Cited – International Drilling Fluids v Louisville Investments (Uxbridge) Ltd CA 20-Nov-1985
Consent to Assignment Unreasonably Withheld
The landlord had refused a proposed assignment of office premises from a tenant who had occupied the premises as its permanent offices, to a tenant who proposed to use the premises as serviced offices – that is, for short-term rent to others. The . .
Cited – British Bakeries (Midlands) Ltd v Michael Testler ChD 1986
Peter Gibson J discussed the refusal of a landlord’s consent to an assignment: ‘In my judgment, where, as here, a refusal of consent to an assignment is based on a number of reasons, the fact that one of those reasons is bad will not normally render . .
Cited – BRS Northern Ltd v Templeheights Ltd and Another ChD 8-Jan-1998
A landlord was found to have unreasonably refused his consent to an assignment even though the purpose of assignment was to frustrate the landlord’s development intentions.
Three grounds for withholding consent were advanced. Two of these were . .
Cited – Holding and Management (Solitaire) Ltd v Norton UTLC 5-Jan-2012
UTLC LANDLORD AND TENANT – administration charges – charge for consent to underletting – whether precluded by statute – held that it was not – whether precluded if no provision for it in lease – held that it was . .
Cited – Shah v Shah CA 10-Apr-2001
The court was asked as to the enforceability of a document under the terms of which the defendants were to make a payment of pounds 1.5 million to the claimant. The document was described as a deed and provided for each defendant to sign in the . .
Cited – NCR Ltd v Riverland Portfolio No1 Ltd (No 2) CA 21-Mar-2005
The court considered a claim that the landlords consent to an assignment of the lease had been wrongly withheld. Following a period of discussion and negotiation about the proposed assignment, on August 11 2003 the landlord’s solicitors informed the . .
Cited – E.On UK Plc v Gilesports Ltd ChD 31-Jul-2012
The Claimant sought a declaration that the Defendant remained the tenant of the property in Nuneaton under a Sublease and arrears of rent, alternatively damages. E.ON is the leasehold owner of the property under a lease. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.569927