Landlord’s Intention to Redevelop - New Insights into Familiar Issues

Introduction

‘Intention to redevelop’, as s.30(1)(f) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is conventionally summarised, sounds like a straightforward matter to prove. But ground (f) has been examined exhaustively by the courts, and there are potentially numerous issues to tackle. Cases continue to emerge, bringing new problems.

The landlord’s subjective intention has been considered in the headline-making S Franses case in the Supreme Court, and subsequent decisions. The objective intention, relating to the landlord’s chances of bringing about its redevelopment scheme, continues to make for difficult judgements. The simplistic understanding may be that the landlord who goes to court with a planning consent in its back pocket can’t lose, while the landlord without one can’t win; but the picture is far more nuanced than that.

The legal issues may be unchanged: does the landlord have the required intention to redevelop, and are there too many hurdles in the way of the proposed scheme? But answering these questions continues to present new headaches as the legislative and commercial landscape changes.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Is the landlord’s motivation relevant to consideration of its intention?
• What are the options when the landlord finds itself at trial too early?
• How big a spanner in the works is a refusal of planning consent?
• Scheme A or Scheme B? Redevelopment now or in two years’ time? Problems and solutions for the landlord whose intentions change

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.