Read the lease

If you are a landlord, it pays to read a lease before refusing consent to assign.

Willans’ partner Nick Cox, a specialist in landlord & tenant disputes, recently acted for a business who had clashed with their landlord over premises in Cardiff.

Nick explained: “The landlord had refused to let our client assign the premises to a third party on the grounds that the third party would not keep the premises open from 9am until 7.30pm as required by the lease.

“I checked the lease carefully. It required the premises to be kept open during “usual hours of business in the locality”. These were 9am to 5pm. The hours the landlord’s solicitors had quoted were in fact those during which the tenant was entitled to use the car park!”

Partner Nick Cox heads our dispute resolution department. He has particular expertise in contentious landlord and tenant work and is a member of the Property Litigation Association. He is also an ADR Group-accredited mediator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Contact nick.cox@willans.co.uk