J S Bloor (Measham) Ltd v Calcott
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 23 November 2001 |
| Neutral Citation | [2001] EWHC 467 (Ch) |
| Date | 23 November 2001 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
Chancery Division
Before Mr Justice Hart.
Agricultural holdings - landlord invoking doctrine of proprietary estoppel against tenant - tenant unable to enforce tenancy against landlord
Landlords could invoke the doctrine of proprietary estoppel against a tenant who had the benefit of a tenancy arising under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 so that the tenant was unable to enforce the tenancy against them.
Mr Justice Hart so held in the Chancery Division finding for J. S. Bloor (Measham) Ltd, the landlords, on their claim against Eric Myles Calcott for a declaration: first, that they were entitled to occupy and develop land situated at Brookfield Way, Lutterworth, Leicestershire and second, that any tenancy of the land which the defendant might have under the 1986 Act, was unenforceable against them.
Both claims were made on the basis that the defendant's conduct had, under the doctrine of proprietary estoppel, given rise to an equity in the claimants' favour.
Mr Keith Rowley, QC, for the landlords; Mr Sam Aaron, QC, for Mr Calcott.
MR JUSTICE HART said, on the question of whether a landlord could assert a claim of proprietary estoppel against a tenant whose tenancy arose under the 1986 Act, that the defendant had argued, relying onJohnson v MoretonELR ((1980) AC 37), that such a tenancy could only be determined by notice, and, relying on Keen v HollandWLR ((1984) 1 WLR 251), that it could not be defeated by an alleged estoppel.
His Lordship said that in Johnson v Moreton the parties had sought to contract out of the 1986 Act and that the principle of public policy which struck down agreements to contract out of the Act did not apply to voluntary acts of a tenant who was already in possession.
Furthermore, the tenant's ability to determine the tenancy by consensual surrender must include the ability, by acts falling...
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Newport City Council v Charles
...however, as a bare proposition, it is, with great respect, too wide. 26 Mr Arden also relied on the decision of Hart J in JS Bloor (Measham) Ltd v Calcott, an agricultural holdings case: [2002] 1 EGLR 1. There is some disagreement at the Bar as to whether the passage relied on by Mr Arden ......