Oliver Ashworth (Holdings) Limited v Ballard (Kent) Limited: CA 18 Mar 1999

In order for the landlord to claim double rent where a tenant held over unlawfully after the tenancy was determined, the landlord must not do anything to indicate that the lease might be continuing, for example by denying the validity of break clause. In construing an Act, regard must be had to the whole of the Act; and where the Act is to be read with another as constituting a code devised by Parliament to achieve a distinct purpose, regard must be had to the other Act as well.
Held: In favour of the appellants, ‘on the distinct basis that the right to double rent conferred by s. 18 of the Act of 1737 only arises where (a) the tenant holding over after his own notice to quit is in fact a trespasser (thus, the notice must be valid), and (b) the landlord treats him as such.’ and (obiter) The principle that a party to litigation cannot ‘approbate and reprobate’ (or ‘blow hot and cold’) does sometimes curtail that party’s theoretical freedom to plead wholly inconsistent cases as alternatives . . ..It seems to me at least arguable that by demanding and suing for rent the landlord was unequivocally treating the tenant as not being a trespasser, and that the subsequent amendment of the statement of claim to plead an alternative and inconsistent case should not be allowed to operate retrospectively so as to make the tenant’s occupation unlawful . . ..I would regard it as an unfair result if in the circumstances of this case the tenant were liable to pay double rent under the 1737 Act as a trespasser in respect of a period when the landlord was, in correspondence and in pleadings, vigorously contending that the tenant was not a trespasser.

Judges:

Robert Walker LJ

Citations:

Gazette 21-Apr-1999, Times 01-Apr-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 1027, [2000] Ch 12, [1999] 2 All ER 791

Statutes:

Distress for Rent Act 1737 (II Geo 2, c 19) 18,, Landlord and Tenant Act 1730

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedTimmins v Rowlison 1764
The 1730 and 1737 Acts should be read together to form one consistent scheme. ‘Statutes in pari materia are to be all taken as one system to suppress the mischief… The Legislature, in [the 1730 Act] made a provision where the landlord gives . .
CitedDoe Ex Dim Cheny v Batten 13-Feb-1775
The tenant gave notice to quit but failed to leave the premises by the due date (Michaelmas). The landlord sued for ejectment, but then accepted a quarter’s rent (due at Christmas). Did this create a new tenancy?
Held: The issue depended on . .
CitedUnited Australia Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd HL 1940
A person whose goods were wrongfully converted by another had a choice of two remedies against the wrongdoer. He could recover damages, in respect of the loss he had sustained by the conversion, or he could recover the proceeds of the conversion . .
CitedKleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council etc HL 29-Jul-1998
Right of Recovery of Money Paid under Mistake
Kleinwort Benson had made payments to a local authority under swap agreements which were thought to be legally enforceable when made. Subsequently, a decision of the House of Lords, (Hazell v. Hammersmith and Fulham) established that such swap . .
CitedMannai 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 . .
CitedPersonal Representatives of Tang Man Sit v Capacious Investments Ltd PC 18-Dec-1995
The claimant, Capacious Investments Ltd, brought proceedings against Tang’s estate for damages for the loss of use and occupation, and also an account of profits and damages for loss and damage incurred, for example by encumbering the property with . .
CitedHankey v Clavering CA 1942
A lease term ran for 21 years from 25 December 1934. A break clause gave either party the right to determine the lease at the expiration of the first seven years, by six calendar months’ notice. The landlord gave notice to the tenant’s solicitors in . .
CitedMotor Oil Hellas (Corinth) Refineries SA v Shipping Corporation of India (The Kanchenjunga) HL 1990
A ship was caught in harbour when an air raid broke out. The master took the ship to sea where it suffered damage.
Held: The shipowners were protected by a war risks clause in the charterparty agreement. As to waiver by election, Lord Goff of . .
CitedChina National Foreign Trade Transportation Corporation v Evlogia Shipping Co SA of Panama (The Mihalios Xilas) HL 1979
A hire clause was in bespoke terms providing for withdrawal ‘in default of payment’. The payment of hire for the final instalment was deficient because, as the umpire held, the charterers’ deductions for the length of the final voyage and bunkers on . .
CitedDendy v Nicholls 1858
For a landlord to demand and sue for rent, when he knew of facts entitling him to forfeit the lease, amounted to waiver of forfeiture and prevented him from bringing a later action for ejectment. Referring to Jones v Carter: (Crowder J) ‘Here, there . .
CitedJones v Carter 1846
The landlord served a declaration in ejectment from the premises.
Held: The service operated as a forfeiture, and a final election to determine the lease, and it was not possible for the landlord later to demand rent. ”After such an act, by . .
CitedJohnstone v Hudlestone 1825
Where a tenant gave an invalid notice to quit, which accordingly did not have effect to determine the tenancy, upon his holding over after the notice was given the landlord was not entitled to double rent under s. 18. (Bayley J) ‘I think that the . .
CitedLissenden v CAV Bosch Ltd HL 1940
The defendant attempted to bar the workman plaintiff from appealing a compensation award on the ground that he had already accepted payment under it.
Held: The House considered the principle that a party may not blow hot and cold on an issue . .
CitedAttorney-General v Prince Earnest Augustus of Hanover HL 1957
‘legislative antecedents’ may in some circumstances constitute relevant background for the interpretation of statutes in pari materia. Words in a preamble cannot of themselves restrict the scope of enacting words, where the latter are wider or more . .
CitedKammins Ballrooms Co Limited v Zenith Investments (Torquay) Limited HL 1970
The tenant had served his section 26 notice under the 1954 Act, but then began the court proceedings before the minumum two month period had expired. The landlord did not take the point at first, and delivered an answer and negotiated compensation. . .
CitedCentral Estates (Belgravia) Ltd v Woolgar (No 2) CA 20-Jun-1972
Right to forfeit waived by rent demand
The landlords’ managing agents learned that the tenant had been convicted of keeping a brothel at the premises and served a section 146 notice intending to forfeit the tenancy. He told his staff and instructed them not to demand or accept rent. But . .
CitedChina National Foreign Trade Transportation Corporation v Evlogia Shipping Co SA of Panama (The Mihalios Xilas) HL 1979
A hire clause was in bespoke terms providing for withdrawal ‘in default of payment’. The payment of hire for the final instalment was deficient because, as the umpire held, the charterers’ deductions for the length of the final voyage and bunkers on . .
CitedJohnson v Agnew HL 1979
The seller had obtained a summary order for specific performance of a contract for the sale of land against the buyer.
Held: The breach was continuing and was still capable of being remedied by compliance with the order for specific . .
CitedCutting v Derby 1776
‘The statutes of [1730] and [1737] being in pari materia ought to have the same construction’. . .
CitedPeyman v Lanjani CA 1985
Application was made for consent to assign a lease. The court was asked whether or not the purchaser of a leasehold interest in a property, who had elected to affirm the contract despite a repudiatory breach by the vendor, could be held to his . .
CitedExpress Newspapers v News (UK) plc 1990
If summary judgment is given to one party on his claim, it must also be given on a counterclaim made on the same basis by the defendant. The principle that a party to litigation cannot ‘approbate and reprobate’ (or ‘blow hot and cold’) can curtail a . .

Cited by:

CitedShaws (EAL) Ltd v Pennycook CA 2-Feb-2004
Tenant’s First Notice to terminate, stood
The landlord served a notice to terminate the business lease. The tenant first served a notice to say that it would not seek a new lease, but then, and still within the time limit, it served a second counter-notice seeking a new tenancy. The . .
CitedJohn Roberts Architects Ltd v Parkcare Homes (No. 2) Ltd TCC 25-Jul-2005
The defendant had taken a dispute to adjudication, but then abandoned those proceedings, upon which the adjudicator awarded costs against the defendant which the claimant now sought to enforce. The defendant argued that the award was outside the . .
CitedBolton Metropolitan Borough Council v Municipal Mutual Insurance Ltd CA 6-Feb-2006
The deceased had come into contact with asbestos when working on building sites for more than one contractor. The claimant here sought contribution from the defendants for the damages it had paid to his estate. The issue was as to liability on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.145942