Introduction to leases Flashcards
What is a lease
Where a tenant rents property from a landlord usually for a termly fee
Where defines a lease
Section 205(1)(xxvii) of the Law of Property Act 1925 summarised to a commercial transaction in which temporary and conditional use and occupation of land is granted.
When is a lease capable of being legal
- A lease, or more properly a ‘term of years absolute’, according to s 1(1)(b) LPA 1925, can be a type of legal estate which is ‘carved out’ of its parent fee simple estate
What is a fixed term lease
Grants EP for a fixed period, usually purchased for a lump sum with nominal rent.
Which case indicated that a fixed term lease may be short
Krell v Henry
When can a fixed term lease arise
- They can only be created expressly and cannot arise by implication of law.
What is a periodic tenancy
A periodic tenancy is for a set period, but automatically rolls on: it grows from period to period, on the assumption of an (often fictional) agreement not to end the lease at the end of a particular period. The tenancy will continue from period to period
What if the lease is not set in a periodic tenancy
- it is calculated by the period of calculation for payments, and not by how often rent is paid. For example, a lease for 6 months with rent payable monthly will constitute a 6-month periodic tenancy.
Where have the courts been reluctant to imply periodic tenancies
Javad v Aqil: cannot be taken to have agreed to all the consequences, at the time they still not agreed about the terms on which the prospective tenant shall have possession under the proposed lease’
Barclays Wealth Trustee v Erimum Holding: remained in occupation and continued to pay rent while negotiated. It was held that negotiations did not give rise to an implied periodic tenancy. The contractual intention was to be determined objectively by taking into account all the relevant circumstances. There was a tenancy at will at the most.
What is a tenancy at will
EP is granted in return for rent, where landlord consents and can bring to an end without formal notice, therefore no statutory protections
What is a tenancy at sufferance
A tenancy at sufferance arises where a lease expires and a tenant holds over without the dissent of the lessor. Depending on consent will either become a tenancy at will or a trespasser
What is a tenancy by estoppel
Where a person who is not the lessor grants a lessee a lease, it may be inequitable for a landlord (lessor) to deny that grant ‘jumps the gun’, the landlord is not permitted to deny the tenancy, he is estopped from denying the tenancy
Case for tenancy by estoppel
Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust:
What is a contractual tenancy
Parties may agree that one is got have EP and make a contract creating the rights of a tenant Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Facts of Burton
Lambeth LBC acquired premises but, pending redevelopment, granted the housing trust a licence to use the premises as temporary accommodation for homeless persons. The agreement between the housing trust and Bruton stated that that trust had no legal interest in the premises and the parties proceeded on the basis that they were creating a (sub)licence and not a tenancy. The House of Lords found that there was a contractual tenancy, so a tenancy by estoppel had not been created.
