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Landlord and tenant Construction of lease
Chancery Division
David Richards J
19 December 2003
Subletting - Landlord's consent - Appellant tenant claiming landlord unreasonably refusing consent to subletting- Lease containing proviso entitling landlord to refuse consent if proposed rent unsatisfactory - Whether request for consent required to state proposed rent -Appeal allowed in part
The respondent was the landlord of a property leased by the appellant. The lease contained a tenant's covenant not to assign or to underlet without the landlord's prior written consent, which was not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed. That covenant was subject to the proviso that the landlord would be entitled to refuse consent if it was not reasonably satisfied that the rent to be reserved by the proposed underlease was a full rack-rent.
The tenant wrote to the landlord's solicitor seeking consent to a subletting; the letter did not state the rent proposed in the underlease. The landlord failed to give consent, and the transaction...