Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

General and supplementary provisions

39 Saving for compulsory acquisitions.

(1) The amount of any compensation payable under section one hundred and twenty-one of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (which relates to the payment of compensation and the obtaining of possession by an acquiring authority in the case of tenancies from year to year or less interests) shall, in the case of a tenancy to which this Part of this Act applies, be assessed without regard to the right of tenants to apply under this Part of this Act for the grant of new tenancies.

(2) If the amount of the compensation which would have been payable under section thirty-seven of this Act if the tenancy had come to an end in circumstances giving rise to compensation under that section and the date at which the acquiring authority obtained possession had been the termination of the current tenancy exceeds the amount of the compensation assessed in accordance with the last foregoing subsection, that compensation shall be increased by the amount of the excess.

(3) Nothing in section twenty-four of this Act shall affect the operation of the said section one hundred and twenty-one.

40 Duty of tenants and landlords of business premises to give information to each other.

(1) Where any person having an interest in any business premises, being an interest in reversion expectant (whether immediately or not) on a tenancy of those premises, serves on the tenant a notice in the prescribed form requiring him to do so, it shall be the duty of the tenant to notify that person in writing within one month of the service of the notice—

(a) whether he occupies the premises of any part thereof wholly or partly for the purposes of a business carried on by him, and

(b) whether his tenancy has effect subject to any sub-tenancy on which his tenancy is immediately expectant and, if so, what premises are comprised in the sub-tenancy, for what term it has effect (or, if it is terminable by notice, by what notice it can be terminated), what is the rent payable thereunder, who is the sub-tenant, and (to the best of his knowledge and belief) whether the sub-tenant is in occupation of the premises or of part of the premises comprised in the sub-tenancy and, if not, what is the sub-tenant's address.

(2) Where the tenant of any business premises, being a tenant under such tenancy as is mentioned in subsection (1) of section twenty-six of this Act, serves on any of the persons mentioned in the next following subsection a notice in the prescribed form requiring him to do so, it shall be the duty of that person to notify the tenant in writing within one month after the service of the notice—

(a) Whether he is the owner of the fee simple in respect of those premises or any part thereof or the mortgagee in possession of such an owner and, if not,

(b) (to the best of his knowledge and belief) the name and address of the person who is his or, as the case may be, his mortgagor's immediate landlord in respect of those premises or of the part in respect of which he or his mortgagor is not the owner in fee simple, for what term his or his mortgagor's tenancy thereof has effect and what is the earliest date (if any) at which that tenancy is terminable by notice to quit given by the landlord.

(3) The persons referred to in the last foregoing subsection are, in relation to the tenant of any business premises,—

(a) any person having an interest in the premises, being an interest in reversion expectant (whether immediately or not) on the tenant's, and

(b) any person being a mortgagee in possession in respect of such an interest in reversion as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection ;

and the information which any such person as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection is required to give under the last foregoing subsection shall include information whether there is a mortgagee in possession of his interest in the premises and, if so, what is the name and address of the mortgagee.

(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to a notice served by or on the tenant more than two years before the date on which apart from this Act his tenancy would come to an end by effluxion of time or could be brought to an end by notice to quit given by the landlord.

(5) In this section—

• the expression " business premises" means premises used wholly or partly for the purposes of a business;

• the expression mortgagee in possession" includes a receiver appointed by the mortgagee or by the court who is in receipt of the rents and profits, and the expression " his mortgagor " shall be construed accordingly ;

• the expression " sub-tenant" includes a person retaining possession of any premises by virtue of the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts, 1920 to 1939 after the coming to an end of a sub-tenancy, and the expression " sub4enancy " includes a right so to retain possession.

41 Trusts.

(1) Where a tenancy is held on trust, occupation by all or any of the beneficiaries under the trust, and the carrying on of a business by all or any of the beneficiaries, shall be treated for the purposes of section twenty-three of this Act as equivalent to occupation or the carrying on of a business by the tenant; and in relation to a tenancy to which this Part of this Act applies by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this subsection—

(a) references (however expressed) in this Part of this Act and in the Ninth Schedule to this Act to the business of, or to carrying on of business, use, occupation or enjoyment by, the tenant shall be construed as including references to the business of, or to carrying on of business, use, occupation or enjoyment by, the beneficiaries or beneficiary;

(b) the reference in paragraph (d) of section thirty-four of this Act to the tenant shall be construed as including the beneficiaries or beneficiary ; and

(c) a change in the persons of the trustees shall not be treated as a change in the person of the tenant.

(2) Where the landlord's interest is held on trust the references in paragraph (g) of subsection (1) of section thirty of this Act to the landlord shall be construed as including references to the beneficiaries under the trust or any of them; but, except in the case of a trust arising under a will or on the intestacy of any person, the reference in subsection (2) of that section to the creation of the interest therein mentioned shall be construed as including the creation of the trust.

42 Group of companies.

(1) For the purposes of this section two bodies corporate shall be taken to be members of a group if and only if one is a subsidiary of the other or both are subsidiaries of a third body corporate.

In this subsection " subsidiary " has the same meaning as is assigned to it for the purposes of the Companies Act, 1948, by section one hundred and fifty-four of that Act.

(2) Where a tenancy is held by a member of a group, occupation by another member of the group, and the carrying on of a business by another member of the group, shall be treated for the purposes of section twenty-three of this Act as equivalent to occupation or the carrying on of a business by the member of the group holding the tenancy; and in relation to a tenancy to which this Part of this Act applies by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this subsection—

(a) references (however expressed) in this Part of this Act and in the Ninth Schedule to this Act to the business of or to use occupation or enjoyment by the tenant shall be construed as including references to the business of or to use occupation or enjoyment by the said other member;

(b) the reference in paragraph (d) of section thirty-four of this Act to the tenant shall be construed as including the said other member; and

(c) an assignment of the tenancy from one member of the group to another shall not be treated as a change in the person of the tenant.

(3) Where the landlord's interest is held by a member of a group the reference in paragraph (g) of subsection (1) of section thirty of this Act to intended occupation by the landlord for the purposes of a business to be carried on by him shall be construed as including intended occupation by any member of the group for the purposes of a business to be carried on by that member.

43 Tenancies excluded from Part II.

(1) This Part of this Act does not apply—

(a) to a tenancy of an agricultural holding;

(b) to a tenancy created by a mining lease ;

(c) to a tenancy where the property comprised therein is let under a letting to which the restrictions on the obtaining of possession by the landlord imposed by section three of the Rent and Mortgage Restrictions (Amendment) Act, 1933, apply in relation to the tenant, or would apply but for subsection (7) of section twelve of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920; or

(d) to a tenancy of premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises, other than premises where—

(i) the excise licence for the time being in force is a licence the duty in respect of which is the reduced duty payable under paragraph 3, 5, 6, 10, 11 or 12 of the Fourth Schedule to the Customs and Excise Act, 1952, or a licence granted on the provisional payment of reduced duty with a view to subsequent adjustment to the duty payable under the said paragraph 3 or the said paragraph 6 ; or

(ii) the Commissioners of Customs and Excise certify that no application under any of the said paragraphs has been made in respect of the period for which the excise licence for the time being in force was granted, but that if such an application had been made such a licence as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph could properly have been granted.

(2) This Part of this Act does not apply to a tenancy granted by reason that the tenant was the holder of an office, appointment or employment from the grantor thereof and continuing only so long as the tenant holds the office, appointment or employment, or terminable by the grantor on the tenant's ceasing to hold it, or coming to an end at a time fixed by reference to the time at which the tenant ceases to hold it:

Provided that this subsection shall not have effect in relation to a tenancy granted after the commencement of this Act unless the tenancy was granted by an instrument in writing which expressed the purpose for which the tenancy was granted.

(3) This Part of this Act does not apply to a tenancy granted for a term certain not exceeding three months unless—

(a) the tenancy contains provision for renewing the term or for extending it beyond three months from its beginning; or

(b) the tenant has been in occupation for a period which, together with any period during which any predecessor in the carrying on of the business carried on by the tenant was in occupation, exceeds six months.

44 Meaning of "the landlord " in Part II, and provisions as to mesne landlords, etc..

(1) Subject to the next following subsection, in this Part of this Act the expression " the landlord", in relation to a tenancy (in this section referred to as "the relevant tenancy"), means the person (whether or not he is the immediate landlord) who is the owner of that interest in the property comprised in the relevant tenancy which for the time being fulfils the following conditions, that is to say—

(a) that it is an interest in reversion expectant (whether immediately or not) on the termination of the relevant tenancy, and

(b) that it is either the fee simple or a tenancy which will not come to an end within fourteen months or less by effluxion of time or by virtue of a notice to quit already given by the landlord,

and is not itself in reversion expectant (whether immediately or not) on an interest which fulfils those conditions.

(2) References in this Part of this Act to a notice to quit given by the landlord are references to a notice to quit given by the immediate landlord.

(3) The provisions of the Sixth Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the application of this Part of this Act to cases where the immediate landlord of the tenant is not the owner of the fee simple in respect of the holding.

45 Repeal of certain provisions of Landlord and Tenant Act, 1927.

In so far as the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1927, provides for compensation for goodwill where a tenancy is not renewed and for a right to the renewal of tenancies in certain cases, it shall cease to have effect; and accordingly that Act is hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of Part I of the Seventh Schedule tc this Act.

46 Interpretation of Part II.

In this Part of this Act:—

• " business " has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (2) of section twenty-three of this Act;

• " current tenancy " has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of section twenty six of this Act;

• " date of termination " has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of section twenty-five of this Act;

• subject to the provisions of section thirty-two of this Act, " the holding " has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (3) of section twenty-three of this Act;

• " mining lease " has the same meaning as in the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1927.