Statutory Enlargement of Leases

Question 1

Conveyancing Act 1881

Answer 1

If (i) very long lease with (ii) peppercorn rent, the tenant can purchase the fee simple from whoever owns it by statutory right.

Question 2

Definition of a tenement

Answer 2

S.5 L and T Act

Question 3

Terry v Stokes

Answer 3

Ramshackle shed may suffice as a tenement. It is the use which is important.

Question 4

Board of Trustees of St Patrick’s School

Answer 4

Temporary hut, with power cables and wheels, was sufficient to qualify for the section.

Question 5

Essense of Part II enlargement (business use)

Answer 5

If there is business use for 5 years, there’s business equity for the renewal of the lease.

Right of renewal for a period of 20 years at a rent established by the Circuit Court (market rent).

There is security of tenure to renew after 20 years (again at market rent).

Question 6

M50 Motors case

Answer 6

Your business must not be in breach of the lease. So you can run it out of your home provided there is no covenant in the agreement preventing you from doing so.

Question 7

Example fo good and sufficient reason to serve a tenant notice to quit (under s.17 of the 1980 Act)

Answer 7

McCarthy v Larkin: there weas a covenant to repair, but the tenant allowed the house to become ruinous and unihabitable and was incapable of restoring the house or paying market rent.

Question 8

Gatien

Answer 8

“caretaker” agreement, not “possession”, and so not entitled to a new tenancy (was after 3 years under the old scheme). Successfully avoided the Act.

Curious reasoning. IESC gave the landlord a workaround, making the Act a matter of choice for the landlord.

Yet, to restrict Gatien: the court considered the tenant to be on an equal footing the landlord, and the tenant had received independent legal advice.