City of London Corporation v Fell

判决理由

事实

The City of London Corporation let premises to a tenant for a fixed contractual term. The lease was assigned, and the assignee remained in occupation after the contractual term expired under the statutory continuation provided by Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The assignee fell into arrears of rent during that statutory continuation, and the landlord sued the original tenant, relying on the original tenant's continuing contractual liability under the covenant to pay rent.

判决摘要

The House of Lords held that the original tenant was not liable for the rent that accrued during the statutory continuation of the tenancy under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Although an original tenant remains liable in contract (privity of contract) on the covenants throughout the term granted by the lease, that liability is defined by the length of the term the parties agreed. Here the tenant had covenanted to pay rent during 'the said term'; on its true construction that meant the contractual term only, and did not extend to the further period during which the assignee held over under the statutory continuation, which was a creature of statute and no part of the term granted. Lord Templeman explained that privity of contract binds the original tenant for the contractual term, while privity of estate binds whoever holds the leasehold estate for the time being; neither made the original tenant liable once the contractual term had ended. The decision clarified the temporal limits of an original tenant's continuing liability and formed part of the background to the reform achieved by the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995.

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