LAND LAW – LEASES Land Law 9:
Leases: Covenants of a lease
Questions Fully Solved.
What is a lease? - Answer A lease allows multiple parties to exploit the benefit of owning an
estate in land simultaneously. This is the contractual relationship between a landlord and tenant
which essentially creates a proprietary estate in land.
Who is a landlord? - Answer A landlord is known as the person who owns the freehold with
the revisionary interest in the land and has granted a lease to the tenant.
Who is a tenant? - Answer A tenant is the person who is guaranteed the lease.
What are the 2 different types of lease covered? - Answer Fixed tenancy (tenancy for a term
of years) = a lease for a specified period of time, with a known start and end date.
Periodic tenancy = a lease which renews automatically at the end of a period of time, e.g.,
weekly, monthly or annually.
What is the distinction between a lease and a licence? - Answer A lease is a proprietary
interest in land, granting the owner the right to exclude all others (inc landlord) from the land
for the duration of the term. A lease however, merely gives the licensee personal permission to
be on the land.
What is the case that sets out the requirements for a lease and what are the requirements? -
Answer Case: Street v Mountford.
As per Lord Templeman, the three requirements = exclusive legal possession of a defined
premises, for a term and at rent. However, the requirement for rent is no longer necessary.
What are the elements of a modern lease? - Answer 1. exclusive legal possession - tenant
has the legal right to exclude anyone from the property (Watts v Stewart).
2. certainty of term (the essential component of a lease) - the precise length of the lease is
known.
Discuss case law for exclusive possession. - Answer Vesely v Levy = a woman living in a flat of
a mental patient as a carer had exclusive occupation of some of the rooms but was not in a
tenancy. She was just there to look after the patient.
, Street v Mountford = a "sham" (a fake) will be ignored, as equity looks at content rather than
form - there must be exclusive possession.
Facchini v Bryson = the burden of proof was on the tenant claimant to show they had the power
to exclude all others from the property.
Norris v Checksfield = where an employee is required to live in a place to do a job, that does not
normally give rise to a tenancy, even though rent may be paid.
Where there is multiple occupancy, can there be exclusive possession? - Answer Where
there is multiple occupancy (where two or more people share a premises), the occupants can
still have exclusive possession if they have the right together to exclude all others.
What are the four unities? - Answer Set out in AG Securities v Vaughan
1. possession - everyone has equal right to occupy all of the premises;
2. interest - everyone has the same leasehold interest for the same term;
3. time - all of the interests start at the same time; and
4. title - all of the interests derive from the same document, or from separate identical
documents.
Discuss some of the case law for the four unities test. - Answer AG Securities v Vaughan =
the parties signed different agreements, on different dates, with different rents, independently
of each other, which were described as licences. The rooms were occupied on a constantly
changing basis as new people moved in and out. It was held that these were licences.
Antoniades v Villiers = involved identical agreements which were signed on the same day by a
cohabiting couple. The landlord had included clauses allowing him to introduce other people
into the property. Clauses were never relied upon by the landlord and were held to be "sham",
included by the landlord solely so that he could try to prevent the couple deriving a tenancy -
the flat was in fact too small to have other people occupying it. This agreement was held to be a
lease.
Artificial destruction of one of the four unities will not suffice to avoid a lease. Which case is this
rule from? - Answer Antoniades v Villiers, as per Lord Oliver.
What does certainty of term mean? - Answer This means that the precise length of the lease
is known.
Leases: Covenants of a lease
Questions Fully Solved.
What is a lease? - Answer A lease allows multiple parties to exploit the benefit of owning an
estate in land simultaneously. This is the contractual relationship between a landlord and tenant
which essentially creates a proprietary estate in land.
Who is a landlord? - Answer A landlord is known as the person who owns the freehold with
the revisionary interest in the land and has granted a lease to the tenant.
Who is a tenant? - Answer A tenant is the person who is guaranteed the lease.
What are the 2 different types of lease covered? - Answer Fixed tenancy (tenancy for a term
of years) = a lease for a specified period of time, with a known start and end date.
Periodic tenancy = a lease which renews automatically at the end of a period of time, e.g.,
weekly, monthly or annually.
What is the distinction between a lease and a licence? - Answer A lease is a proprietary
interest in land, granting the owner the right to exclude all others (inc landlord) from the land
for the duration of the term. A lease however, merely gives the licensee personal permission to
be on the land.
What is the case that sets out the requirements for a lease and what are the requirements? -
Answer Case: Street v Mountford.
As per Lord Templeman, the three requirements = exclusive legal possession of a defined
premises, for a term and at rent. However, the requirement for rent is no longer necessary.
What are the elements of a modern lease? - Answer 1. exclusive legal possession - tenant
has the legal right to exclude anyone from the property (Watts v Stewart).
2. certainty of term (the essential component of a lease) - the precise length of the lease is
known.
Discuss case law for exclusive possession. - Answer Vesely v Levy = a woman living in a flat of
a mental patient as a carer had exclusive occupation of some of the rooms but was not in a
tenancy. She was just there to look after the patient.
, Street v Mountford = a "sham" (a fake) will be ignored, as equity looks at content rather than
form - there must be exclusive possession.
Facchini v Bryson = the burden of proof was on the tenant claimant to show they had the power
to exclude all others from the property.
Norris v Checksfield = where an employee is required to live in a place to do a job, that does not
normally give rise to a tenancy, even though rent may be paid.
Where there is multiple occupancy, can there be exclusive possession? - Answer Where
there is multiple occupancy (where two or more people share a premises), the occupants can
still have exclusive possession if they have the right together to exclude all others.
What are the four unities? - Answer Set out in AG Securities v Vaughan
1. possession - everyone has equal right to occupy all of the premises;
2. interest - everyone has the same leasehold interest for the same term;
3. time - all of the interests start at the same time; and
4. title - all of the interests derive from the same document, or from separate identical
documents.
Discuss some of the case law for the four unities test. - Answer AG Securities v Vaughan =
the parties signed different agreements, on different dates, with different rents, independently
of each other, which were described as licences. The rooms were occupied on a constantly
changing basis as new people moved in and out. It was held that these were licences.
Antoniades v Villiers = involved identical agreements which were signed on the same day by a
cohabiting couple. The landlord had included clauses allowing him to introduce other people
into the property. Clauses were never relied upon by the landlord and were held to be "sham",
included by the landlord solely so that he could try to prevent the couple deriving a tenancy -
the flat was in fact too small to have other people occupying it. This agreement was held to be a
lease.
Artificial destruction of one of the four unities will not suffice to avoid a lease. Which case is this
rule from? - Answer Antoniades v Villiers, as per Lord Oliver.
What does certainty of term mean? - Answer This means that the precise length of the lease
is known.
