Swinburne v Milburn: HL 1884

In construing a covenant in a lease with the effect of providing that it will be perpetually renewable, the same approach should be taken as with any other clause or contract. The parties’ intentions are to be deduced from the words used in the lease. However, the courts will lean against holding that a lease is perpetually renewable. Lord Fitzgerald approved confining interpretations of perpetual renewability to leases where words such as ‘for ever’ or ‘from time to time for ever hereafter’ or some equivalent were used in the relevant document.

Judges:

Lord FitzGerald

Citations:

[1884] 9 AC 844

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedMarjorie Burnett Ltd v Barclay ChD 12-Dec-1980
A lease was created of a shop, dwellings and out-buildings. By clause 6 the tenant had a right to renew the lease, with the new lease creating the same provision. The defendant claimed that as a perpetually renewable lease it took effect as a lease . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.259712