These are notes on leases created in 2019. They follow a structured format which condenses the relevant case law, statutory provisions and academic opinion that are relevant to the topic to aid with exam revision.
Leases: under the rent act. Mr Mountford applied for the
registration of fair rent under the rent act. The
Topic outline: defendant brought an action for a declaration that Mr
The nature of leases Mountford was a licensee not a tenant. The CA held
The essential elements of a lease them to be a licensee because the agreement was
How are leases created? termed as license
Leasehold covenants Held:
Implied covenants of landlord and tenant HOL reverses the decision, where accommodation is
Transfer of leasehold covenants – pre and post Land and granted for a certain term with exclusive possession, the
Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 legal effect was the granting of a lease, even if it is called
Landlord’s remedies for breach of covenant – forfeiture a license agreement. Lord Templeman stated that the
Other remedies for breach of covenants by tenant parties cannot turn a tenancy into a licence just by
Tenants’ remedies for breaches of covenants by calling it one
landlords
Exclusive possession
Nature of leases: Definition:
There are two estates in English law, leaseholds and The right to exclude others, including the landlord from
freehold the land
Can carve out a leasehold out a freehold (people buy a Whether exclusive possession is found will depend on all
freehold and then rent it out) the facts of the case, the cause of dealing between the
Can be called a leasehold estate, terms of years and parties, the nature of the land and the manner of
tenancy occupation- Street v Mountford
Parties to the lease: Examples
Landlord/lessor- owns the reversion (the right to Sharing accommodation with landowner is not a lease
possession of the leased property when the lease ends) (lodges) but a licensees
Tenant (also called lessee) Aslan v Murphy- Retention of keys will not
Sublease- a second lease carved out of the original lease. automatically prevent a tenancy; what matters is why
The new lease already has to be shorter than the already the keys are retained.
existing lease Shared occupation- could amount to individual licensee
Original lease – headlease, new lease = sublease but could also give exclusive possession
Lease is contractual but also creates proprietary rights AG Securities v Vaughan- HOL, held to be a licenses as 4
Grant= when a lease is created occupiers had different license agreements at different
Assignment= transfer of lease to a new tenant times
Antoniades v Villiers- Held to be a lease as despite
Essential elements of a lease- statutory definition (What signing different licence agreements it was a sham to
makes an agreement a lease) avoid them being protected under the rent acts. There
S.1 LPA 1925- formal name of a lease is a term of years was an intention for the couple to have exclusive
absolute possession for a term at a rent
S.205 (1) LPA 1925- definition of a lease: Shams- where attempts are made by a landlord to evade
A lease must be for a definite period (cannot have an the statutory protections given to tenants under a lease
indefinite lease) (Aslan v Murphy, Antoniades v Villiers)
A lease can be determined (ended) by various different
methods Certain term:
A lease cannot be in the form of a life interest 2 key aspects
A lease cannot come into effect more than 21 years Certainty of commencement of the lease- The date of
after its creation (a lease can have effect in the future when the lease starts has to be certain- there will be no
but not more than 21 years) valid lease if there is no defined and certain date for it to
There is no minimum period of time for a lease, and it start
may periodic (repeatable) Certainty of maximum duration of the lease- a lease
cannot be forever or for someone’s life time (uncertain
Essentials of a lease- on how long they are going to live for
Street v Mountford:
Judgement from the House of Lords- from Lord Traditional approach:
Templeman Say v Smith- It must be possible to define the start date
The 3 essential attributes of a lease: and end date of the lease
The grant of exclusive possession Lace v Chandler- Confirmed Say, the term must be
For a certain term certain and ascertainable from the outset
At a rent There was an attempt to liberalise this approach in:
These three elements must be present to create a lease, Ashburn Anstaldt v Arnold- No maximum duration was
if one is missing it then becomes a license specified in the lease, but it was held to be a lease.
Facts: There doesn’t have to be a specific date but it does have
Mr Street entered into agreement that the Landlord to be sufficiently certain when the lease ends
wanted to portray as a license agreement with a clause Not the current law, more of a blip
stating that the tenant does not have any protection Prudential Assurance v London Residuary Body- HOL
stated that Ashburn was wrongly decided
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