Carradine Properties Ltd v Aslam

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Date1976
Year1976
CourtChancery Division
[CHANCERY DIVISION] CARRADINE PROPERTIES LTD. v. ASLAM [1975 C. No. 3380] 1975 Nov. 6 Goulding J.

Landlord and Tenant - Notice to quit - Error in notice - Break clause in 21 year lease providing for earlier determination - Landlord's notice giving past date for termination - Whether notice valid

Clause 5 of a lease for a 21 year term from September 27, 1968, provided for its earlier determination by either party to the lease at the end of the first 7 or 14 years on 12 months' previous notice in writing. A notice by the landlords dated September 6, 1974, served on the tenant stated: “… we hereby give you notice that we intend to determine the term created by the lease on September 27, 1973, and that we require you to quit and deliver up possession … on that date.” The date named in the notice should have been September 27, 1975.

On the question whether the notice to quit was invalidated by the giving of an incorrect date for determination of the lease: —

Held, that applying legal principles to the landlords' notice and adopting a benevolent approach, the court would treat the giving of a date past for termination of the lease as a slip which would be obvious to a reasonable tenant reading the notice and knowing the terms of the lease; that therefore the notice would be interpreted as an intention on the part of the landlords to determine the lease on September 27, 1975, and accordingly, subject to Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1954, the notice to quit was valid.

Doe d. Duke of Bedford v. Kightley (1796) 7 Term Rep. 63 applied.

Hankey v. Clavering [1942] 2 K.B. 326, C.A. distinguished.

The following cases are referred to in the judgment:

Cadby v. Martinez (1840) 11 Ad. & El. 720.

Doe d. Lord Huntingtower v. Culliford (1824) 4 Dow. & Ry. 248.

Doe d. Duke of Bedford v. Kightley (1796) 7 Term Rep. 63.

Doe d. Spicer v. Lea (1809) 11 East 312.

Doe d. Richmond Corporation v. Morphett (1845) 7 Q.B. 577.

Doe d. Williams v. Smith (1836) 5 Ad. & El. 350.

Hankey v. Clavering [1942] 2 K.B. 326; [1942] 2 All E.R. 311. C.A.

Wride v. Dyer [1900] 1 Q.B. 23.

No additional cases were cited in argument.

ADJOURNED SUMMONS.

The plaintiff landlords, Carradine Properties Ltd., by their summons dated April 8, 1975, sought a declaration that a notice to quit premises on the ground floor of 5 Lancelot Parade. Wembley, served by them on the defendant, Miam Mohammed Aslam, on September 11, 1974, operated so as validly to determine the defendant's tenancy of the premises on September 27, 1975, in accordance with the terms of a lease of September 27, 1968, whereunder the defendant held the premises as tenant and subject to the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

The facts are stated in the judgment of Goulding J.

R. J. Moshi for the landlords.

T. R. F. Jennings for the tenant.

GOULDING J. This case concerns a short construction point which is not concluded by authority nor entirely easy to decide.

By a lease dated September 27, 1968, a company called Hazell & Co. (Publicity) Ltd., a predecessor of the plaintiff company, demised certain small business premises at 5 Lancelot Parade, Wembley, to Muhammad Shakil, a predecessor of the defendant, at a rent of £1,200 per annum for a term of 21 years less three days from September 27, 1968. The reversion is now vested in the plaintiff company and the defendant is the assignee of the lease.

Clause 5 of the lease contains a provision in a not unusual form for its earlier determination at the end of the first 7 or 14 years of the term on the giving of 12 months' previous notice by either party. Clause 5 is as follows:

“Provided always and it is hereby agreed if either party shall desire to determine the present demise at the expiration of the first seven or 14 years of the said term and shall give 12 months previous notice in writing of such its or his desire and (in the case of determination by the lessee) if the lessee shall up to the time of such determination pay the rent and perform and observe the covenants on his part hereinbefore contained then immediately on the expiration of such seven...

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83 cases
  • Burman v Mount Cook Land Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 20 November 2001
    ...admit the right to a new lease?" - is, I think, derived from the test applied by Mr Justice Goulding in Carradine Properties Ltd v Aslam [1976] 1 WLR 442- see at page 444G-H and approved in the House of Lords in Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd [1997] AC 749 by Lo......
  • Mannai Investment Company Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Company Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 5 July 1995
    ...contrary to authority and to be rejected. The effect of Hankey v ClaveringELR ((1942) 2 KB 326), Carradine Properties Ltd v AslamWLR ((1976) 1 WLR 442), a principled and manifestly just decision, and Doe d Duke of Bedford v KightleyUNK ((1796) 7 Term Rep 63) could be summarised as follows: ......
  • Delta Vale Properties Ltd v Mills
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 8 December 1989
    ...it is intended to operate." 35 Similarly, he referred (at p. 645 E) to the "necessary quality of clarity and definition". 36 In Carradine Properties Ltd. v. Aslam (1976) 1 W.L.R. 442 a notice to quit gave an incorrect date (1973 instead of 1975) for the determination of a lease. Goulding J.......
  • Crawford v Elliott
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 21 November 1990
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