Commercial Property Updates from May 2024

Dilapidations

Peachside Ltd v Lee [2024] EWHC 921 (TCC)

The court applied both ‘limbs’ of s.18(1), Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 in allowing a landlord’s claim for damages for breach of repairing covenant, rejecting an unusual defence by the tenant

Specific performance of contract for assignment of lease

Valbonne Estates v United Homes [2024] EWHC 876 (Ch)

Specific performance will not generally be granted, where a contract for assignment of a lease is conditional upon obtaining landlord’s consent, until that condition has been satisfied. The prospective assignee will, until then, therefore not generally be beneficial owner of the property under a constructive trust, though it will have some equitable interest in it.

The ‘holding’ and the 1954 Act

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd v Medley Assets Ltd (Central London County Court, Case number: H00MK414)

A tenant may defeat a landlord’s opposition to renewing its lease on ground (f) by moving out of occupation of those parts of its premises which would be affected by the works.

Learning Objectives:

To cement learning of new developments in the past month, and/or gain awareness of others that busy practitioners may have missed.