Certainty of Terms in Lease Contract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Certainty of Terms in Lease Contract - Essay Example A leasehold estate is made for a year or a fraction of a year or for many numbers of years or for weekly, quarterly, monthly or per annum basis. On 3 December 1868, the longest lease was created by an Irish lease thereby granting for a term of ten million years as regards to a plot for a sewerage tank. In Smallwood v Sheppards2, a privilege to occupy a cottage for three following bank holidays held to be a valid lease. In Cottage Holidays Associates v Customs and Excise Commissioners3, it was upheld that a right to occupy a resort cottage for seven days in each year for a period of 80 years as a valid lease4. Privileges and commitments under a lease contract will be established by the general law provision and by the terms contained in the lease contract, like payment of rent by a tenant, repair and renovate the leased property, to use only for the authorised usage, not to sublet or to assign, to make a charge or part with the possession of the land without prior consent from the lan dlord5. This research essay will make an earnest attempt to elaborate the main ingredients for the award of a valid lease and the possible outcomes of failing to observe with those ingredients with reference to relevant case law and academic commentary. â€Å"Requirement of a Valid Lease† For creating a lease contract, there should be a landlord who owns or legally possess the ownership of a land, a tenant who will have the privilege to exclusively possess the land for a definite or contracted period by paying a rent, where the landlord retains a reversionary interest. There should be two parties one –the landlord and the other, the tenant. The landlord cannot give a lease of land to himself as held in Rye v Rye6. In Ingram v Inland Revenue Commissioners7, it was held that a nominee cannot award a lease to his principal. However, s72 (4) of LPA 1925 offers some statutory exception to this8. The subject matter should be a land in a leasing contract as per s205 (1) (ix) of LPA 1925, which includes any land, building on land and rights over such land, which is known as ‘incorporeal hereditaments.’ The landlord must divest himself of everything which he possesses in his leasehold estate. In Milmo V Carreras9, a tenant had sublet a flat to a party which ran beyond the head lease period. It was viewed by the Court of Appeal that tenant had transferred to the sublease the whole of the period available under the head lease and as such, he had not retained any reversion over it. â€Å"Certainty of Terms† The duration or term of a lease contract should be certain.