Little v Courage Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Sir Stephen Brown P,Kennedy,Millett L Jj |
| Judgment Date | 21 December 1995 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 21 December 1995 |
Court of Appeal
Before Sir Stephen Brown, President, Lord Justice Kennedy and Lord Justice Millett
Lease - option to renew - condition need not be fulfilled
A condition precedent in a covenant to grant a new lease that the parties should agree on a new business plan and a new business agreement did not need to be satisfied where the landlord subsequently decided that the agreement and plan were not required.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment allowing the appeal of the plaintiff, James Leslie Little, the tenant of a public house, against the judgment of Mr Justice Ferris in the Chancery Division deciding a preliminary point in favour of the defendant, Courage Ltd (The Times January 19, 1994).
Mr Nicholas Chambers, QC and Mr Mark Brealey for Mr Little; Mr Kim Lewison, QC and Mr Martin Rodger for Courage.
LORD JUSTICE MILLETT said that Mr Little had become the tenant of a public house in 1986. Courage had been his landlord. The lease was for five years and expired in 1991.
It contained an option to renew for a further five years. Mr Little had attempted to exercise that option. Courage had declined to grant him a further lease and Mr Little had brought proceedings for specific performance.
The case was of considerable importance, since Mr Little's lease was in the standard form employed by Courage and there were many other cases where a similar issue arose. Mr Justice Ferris had decided the preliminary issue in favour of Courage and dismissed the action. He said that he reached his conclusion with a good deal of regret since it meant that the parties' evident intention that Mr Little should have an effective right of renewal had been frustrated.
Clause 26(1) of the lease contained the option to renew on certain conditions. For the purposes of the preliminary issue it had been accepted that the conditions specified were satisfied except condition (c): "the lessee shall have agreed with the company a further business plan and a further business agreement".
No attempt had been made to agree either a further business plan or a further business agreement. Courage had asserted that, by reason of clause 26(1)(c), clause 26 of the lease was void for uncertainty and/or unenforceable in law.
As a preliminary issue Mr Justice Ferris had considered whether Courage, having refused to agree or to offer to enter into a new business agreement or a new business plan, was entitled to...
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Compagnie Noga d'Importation et d'Exportation SA v Abacha (No 3) [QBD (Comm)]
... ... Lake v LakeELR [1955] P 336. Little v Courage LtdUNK (1994) 70 P & C R 469. Luxor (Eastbourne) Ltd v CooperELR [1941] AC 108 ... ...
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Teekay Tankers Ltd (a company incorporated in the Marshall Islands) v Stx Offshore & Shipbuilding Company Ltd (a company incorporated in the Republic of Korea)
...obtain a letting. … 157 At p. 340 Kennedy LJ referred to a then recent decision of the Court of Appeal: In Little v Courage Ltd (1995) 70 P & CR 469 an option to renew the lease of a public house had a condition precedent involving agreement on a new business plan. The tenant contended,......
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Mr Edward Martin Robert Wells v Mr Mehul Devani
...and the implied terms together thereby create what would not otherwise be a legally binding bargain." 20 In Little v Courage Ltd (1995) 70 P & CR 469 Millett LJ treated Lord Roskill's statement of principle as representing English 21 In my judgment the judge fell into the very trap that......
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Jet2.com Ltd v Blackpool Airport Ltd
...An agreement to use best endeavours to reach an agreement may be unenforceable as an agreement to agree as effectively held in Little v Courage Ltd (1995) 70 P & CR469, but even in such a case the matter may not be completely beyond argument since a best endeavours obligation might at l......
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Land Law
...option were satisfied, the defendant had no entitlement to a new lease from the plaintiff. Further, having regard to Little v Courage Ltd[1995] CLC 164at 167–168, the plaintiff had, inter alia, no obligation to remind the defendant in advance of the contractual significance of the 30 Novemb......