I am acting for the landlord in the contested Court of Appeal business tenancy case of Gill v Lees News Limited, heard recently before Lord Justices Lewison, Popplewell and Dingemans.
The commercial premises subject to the contested business tenancy are based in West London.
Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (“the Act”) a landlord may only oppose the grant of a new lease in favour of a protected business tenant on any of the grounds stipulated at section 30 of the Act. These grounds include (a) disrepair, (b) persistent delays in paying rent, (c) other substantial breaches by the tenant, (f) redevelopment and (g) landlord occupation.
In this case, the landlord claims that it should not have to grant the tenant a new tenancy as there was disrepair (ground a) which was only substantially remedied on the eve of trial and the tenant’s conduct has been egregious including misleading the court (ground c).
The Court of Appeal will have to decide whether the decision in the lower courts in favour of the tenants was correctly decided having regard to the value judgment required by judges when navigating the Act, the extent of the disrepair and whether it is equitable for the landlord to have the tenant foisted on it having regard to prior conduct.
The decision is also likely to clarify the law upon the relevant date for considering disrepair under ground a. Whether, as wesay, the disrepair should be considered throughout or as argued by the tenant, only at the date of the hearing.
It is has been a pleasure working with Nick Grundy KC and Simon Lane. Joanne Wickes KC and Ben Walker Nolan appearing for the tenants.
Should you require any assistance with commercial tenancy renewals, please do not hesitate to contact Bill Dhariwal on E: bill.dhariwal@lawcomm.co.uk or DDI: 01489 864 117.
