Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Landlord’s refusal of alterations consent: evolving applications, mixed reasons and objective/subjective tests - Messenex Property Investments v Lanark Square [2024] EWHC 89 (Ch), England and Wales

Published on: 09 February 2024

Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert

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Article summary

Messenex Property Investments Ltd v Lanark Square Ltd [2024] EWHC 89 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case?

This decision delivers a helpful restatement of the principles to apply when assessing a request for consent under a lease, which landlords, tenants and their advisers should bear in mind. In this matter, the tenant’s proposals, for which permission was being sought, evolved over time. The judge was required to determine precisely which applications had actually been made to the landlord pursuant to the lease, and whether the nature of an application could shift through exchanges between the parties’ transactional solicitors. Practitioners acting for tenants should accordingly keep under review whether a fresh request for consent ought to be submitted to the landlord if the proposals undergo a material change. Where a landlord refuses consent, the grounds must reflect the landlord’s genuine, contemporaneous reasons (Tollbench v Plymouth City Council (1988) 56 P & CR 194 (not reported by LexisNexis®UK)). Those reasons must also meet an objective standard of reasonableness (Iqbal and others v Thakrar and another [2004] 3 EGLR 21). The judgment therefore emphasises clarity about the scope of each application and fidelity to the actual reasons for refusal when consent is...

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