Tamsin Cox provides an update on the vexed issue of serving effective break notices
A break clause is fundamentally a unilateral option. Where there is no indication as to who may exercise the break, it is exercisable by the tenant only (Dann v Spurrier (1803) 3 Bos & P 399, [1803-13] All ER Rep 410), and, most crucially, where the exercise of a break clause is conditional, any conditions must be complied with strictly.
The rules seem straightforward, but it is as soon as one attempts to compose the notice in any given case that the true difficulty of establishing exactly what is necessary becomes obvious. There are endless complexities in establishing what sort of notice is required, by whom, on whom, and how it must be served, where, whether and how vacant possession must be given, and the practicalities of complying with any other specific conditions.
Friends Life
Quite how carefully any condition, however apparently inconsequential, must be complied with was emphasised again by the Court of Appeal in Friends Life Ltd v Siemens Hearing Instruments Ltd [2014]
