When a tenant seeks a new business lease that falls under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), disputes concerning the terms of the new lease are determined by the court in accordance with LTA 1954, ss 32–35. LTA 1954, s 35(1) is particularly pertinent as to the exercise of the court’s discretion when determining the terms of a new lease. While a tenant may seek for a side letter to be taken into account by the court when determining the terms of a new lease, it is unlikely that a side letter will result in rights being incorporated in a new lease that were not contained in the old. In The Picture Warehouse Ltd v Cornhill Investments Ltd a tenant

Case study A landlord's section 25 (section 25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954)) notice terminates a lease on the contractual expiry date and opposes a new one on ground f. No proceedings have been issued but it is assumed that the tenant will issue proceedings for a renewal (which will not include an application for interim rent). The landlord has issued an invoice for the annual rent (rent in the lease is paid annually in advance) from the contractual expiry date for the year ahead. It is assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that proceedings will be issued by the tenant and therefore the lease will continue beyond the contractual expiry date and,

No. A variation to increase the amount of rent, whenever the variation is made, is not treated as the grant of a new lease for stamp duty land tax (SDLT) purposes, unless

It should not count as a surrender and regrant as a matter of land law and it should not count as one as a matter of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) law. A

Mortgagee’s power of sale The mortgage deed will need to be considered to determine whether the breach arising from the grant of a lease without consent gives rise to the statutory power of sale which is exercisable. Mortgage deeds have a statutory power of sale under the Law of Property Act 1925, s 101(1)(i) (LPA 1925). The statutory power arises under the LPA 1925, s 101 as soon as the mortgages monies become due. However, it is only exercisable under the LPA 1925, s 103 by the mortgagee when: • notice requiring payment of the mortgage money has been served on the mortgagor and default has been made in payment thereof for three months after such service, or • some interest under the mortgage is in arrears and unpaid for two months after becoming due, or • there has been a breach of another provision contained in the mortgage deed or in LPA 1925 The statutory power can be varied or

The question of whether any particular transaction is restricted by a lease, whether consent is required and, if so, whose, is a matter of the construction of the covenants given by the parties. This will require a reading of the whole

The lease provides that on assignment, the assignor must enter into an authorised guarantee agreement (AGA) with the landlord but there is no qualification of reasonableness to that obligation. Are there circumstances in which the assignor can argue that they do not have to enter into an AGA on the grounds that it is unreasonable for the landlord to require one? Before the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995), the original tenant under a lease would remain bound by the covenants on the part of the tenant contained in a lease notwithstanding the assignment of the lease. This meant that if the landlord could not, or did not want to try to, enforce the covenants against the assignee, they could seek to do so against

This Q&A assumes that the reference to termination by operation of law is to a surrender of the lease that has occurred through the conduct of the landlord and the tenant. There is no obligation to remove a surrendered lease from the landlord’s title before a new lease is granted to a different tenant. It would, however, be advisable to do so. This is because HM Land Registry will assume that the original lease is subsisting unless and until an application is made to remove it that satisfies

Leases will tend to set out the manner in which notices given under terms of the lease are to be served. Many will incorporate section 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925), which requires notices to be in writing, and allows for service by registered post, as well as leaving the notice at the last-known place of abode or business of the person to be served. In respect of the sending of a notice by registered post the notice will be sufficiently served if the letter is not returned by the postal operator undelivered. Other leases will contain specific provisions for service, for example requiring service by recorded post or permitting service by first class post, though the latter is unusual. The Recorded Delivery Act 1962 (RDSA 1962) provides that any document which may be sent by registered post may also be served by recorded delivery. Section 7 of the Interpretation

A commercial tenancy which is a 'business tenancy' may attract security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). A ‘business tenancy’ is one where property is occupied for the purposes of a trade or profession within the meaning of LTA 1954, s 23, unless specifically excluded by LTA 1954, s 43, or where occupation is as licensee or tenant at will. Where security of tenure applies, the end of the contractual term does not mean the end of the tenancy. The tenant is entitled

If a lease was granted at undervalue, you are the 3rd owner, and you knew it was at undervalue, if creditors ask for an order returning the property to the original owner you cannot claim relief? Transactions at an undervalue (TUVs) are governed by: • sections 238, 240 and 241 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) in respect of companies, and • sections 339 to 342 of the IA 1986 in respect of individuals The sections are available to trustees in bankruptcy, liquidators (whether in a compulsory or voluntary liquidation) and administrators. They

A court would strive to give effect to the intentions of the parties. Whenever a court has to decide what a contract means, it is giving effect to those intentions however imperfectly they might have chosen to express them by their written words. Often it will be necessary to imply a term so as to give effect to the intention it is able to identify from the words which are used. As the Supreme Court pointed out in the recent decision in Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd, giving effect to the words used and implying a term are two different concepts. Only if the first task failed did one have to decide