Validation of War-time Leases Act 1944
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1944 c. 34 |
Validation of War-time Leases Act, 1944
(7 & 8 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 34.
An Act to validate agreements purporting to grant or provide for the grant of tenancies for periods depending on the duration of the war and certain other events; to provide for the construction of such agreements and other tenancy agreements; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[3rd August 1944]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Validation of tenancies for the duration of the war.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, any agreement, whether entered into before or after the passing of this Act which purports to grant or provide for the grant of a tenancy for the duration of the war shall have effect as if it granted or provided for the grant of a tenancy for a term of ten years, subject to a right exercisable either by the landlord or the tenant to determine the tenancy, if the war ends before the expiration of that term, by at least one month's notice in writing given after the end of the war:
Provided that—
(a ) if the agreement provides for the termination of the tenancy by notice before the end of the war, that provision shall apply to the tenancy as it takes effect under this subsection;
(b ) if the agreement provides for the termination of the tenancy by notice after the end of the war, that provision shall be substituted for the provision of this subsection relating to the termination of the tenancy after the end of the war;
(c ) if the agreement relates to a holding within the meaning of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923 , this subsection shall apply to that agreement subject to the provisions of sections twenty-three and twenty-five of the said Act.
(2) In this section the expression ‘the duration of the war,’ in relation to any agreement, means a period which, on the proper construction of the words used in the agreement whatever they may be, ends with, or within a specified time after, one of the following events—
(a ) the end of the war or of hostilities as respects all the States with which His Majesty is at war and all theatres of war;
(b ) the end of the war or of hostilities as respects any particular State or States or any particular theatre or theatres of war;
(c ) the end of the emergency mentioned in the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939 , or of the period for which that Act or any Regulation, order or power thereunder is in force or of the emergency mentioned in any other Act of the present Parliament;
(d ) the end of the emergency (not defined by reference to any Act of Parliament) occasioned by the war or hostilities, whether as respects all the said States and all theatres of war or as respects any particular State or States or any particular theatre or theatres of war;
(e ) any event likely to occur on or in connection with any of the events aforesaid;
and any reference in this section (other than this subsection) to the end of the war shall, in relation to any agreement, be construed as referring to the end of such one of the aforesaid periods as is appropriate to that agreement.
(3) Any reference in this section to an agreement purporting to grant or provide for the grant of a tenancy for the duration of the war shall be construed as including a reference to—
(a ) an agreement purporting to grant or provide for the grant of—
(i) a tenancy for a specified term or for the duration of the war, whichever is the shorter;
(ii) a tenancy for a specified term or for the duration of the war, whichever is the longer; or
(iii) a tenancy which is to continue until determined by notice, subject to a condition that the notice is not to be given, or is not to be given by one of the parties, before the end of the war;
(b ) an agreement between the vendor and purchaser of land that the vendor is to be entitled to retain possession of the land for the duration of the war:
but shall not be construed as including an agreement granting or providing for the grant of a tenancy for a specified term subject to a right on the part of the landlord or the tenant to determine the tenancy, if the war ends before the expiration of that term, by notice after the end of the war.
(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect, in the case referred to in sub-paragraph (i) of the last foregoing subsection, as if for the reference to ten years there were substituted a reference to the specified term referred to in that sub-paragraph; and, in the case referred to in sub-paragraph (ii) thereof, the agreement shall, if the war ends before the specified term referred to in that sub-paragraph, have effect as if it granted or provided for the grant of a tenancy for that term and not such a tenancy as is...
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