Business tenancies

Citation

(1998), "Business tenancies", Property Management, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.1998.11316aab.023

Business tenancies

Business tenancies

Aberdeen Steak Houses Group Ltd v. Crown Estate Commissioners [1997] 31 EG 101

In this case, the court was concerned with three linked issues: first, as to whether the landlords had served a valid notice sufficient to give effect to a break clause in the lease exercisable in the event that the landlords should "desire to demolish and reconstruct the building or a substantial part thereof or to carry out substantial work of reconstruction..."; second, as to whether the same notice was effective to terminate the tenancy for the purposes of s.25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954; and third, as to whether the landlords were entitled to object to the granting of a new lease under s. 30 (1)(f) of the 1954 Act, i.e. on the ground of the landlords' intention to redevelop, reconstruct, etc. "Yes", said the court, in answer to all three questions: the notice was sufficient to exercise the break clause and was in the prescribed form for the purposes of the 1954 Act, and although there were some minor outstanding problems relating to the grant of planning permission for the preferred redevelopment scheme, it was likely that these would be overcome.

As to the calculation of the rent, and exclusion of any rent review clause, where the landlord attempted unsuccessfully to insert a "ransom" element into the rent of the new lease, see Northern Electric plc v. Addison [1997] 39 EG 175.