The judge’s discretion on a 1954 Act tenancy renewal still carries a great deal of weight, says Steven Woolf
The Court of Appeal has in Youseffi v Mussellwhite[2014] EWCA Civ 885 recently revisited the extent of the judge’s discretion when determining how the grounds for opposition advanced by a landlord under s 30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) should operate.
The legislation
As is well known, a landlord has to rely upon at least one of seven available grounds under s 30(1) of LTA 1954 in opposition to a request for the renewal of a commercial tenancy. In respect of grounds (a), (b) and (c), a landlord has also to satisfy a court that, in the exercise of the judge’s discretion, a new lease “ought not to be granted”.
Application of the law
What is interesting is the interaction between the past and the future. In the first place the court has to establish (as a matter of fact) that, for example, under ground (a) there has been a failure to comply with repairing obligations or,
