Continuing Breaches Good Grounds for Ending Lease.

A commercial tenant at Heathrow Airport, whose use of his business premises had been the subject of numerous enforcement notices because of breaches of planning regulations, received from his landlord a notice under Section 25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act terminating his tenancy and stating that the grant of a new tenancy would be opposed on the grounds of the tenant's breaches of his obligations under the lease.

The tenant went to court to force the landlord to grant a new tenancy.

Since the breaches were mainly ones of planning regulations, which represented the continuing commission of criminal offences, the court had no difficulty in accepting the landlord's argument that its opposition to the lease was justified.

In this case it is difficult to see how the tenant thought he had a reasonable case to argue, so presumably the proceedings were brought in order to delay his having to vacate the premises, allowing him to continue to trade for as long a time as possible. If you have problems, with tenants or your landlord, we can advise you on how best to deal with them.

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