Leases
-A lease is referred to as a ‘term of years’ or as a ‘demise’.
-Lease: A lease is an estate in the land which, therefore, gives a proprietary interest in the
land.
-License: Permission from an owner of land (licensor) to the licensee to use the land for an
agreed purpose.
*-A lease and a license are different in three ways:
1) As leases are property rights (an estate or interest in land), they are in principle freely
alienable. That is, they cannot be sold, given away, or left by will.
--A license is a right personal to the licensee and cannot be assigned.
--i.e. Suppose roger was going away for weeks and allowed a friend of his to occupy
his flat rent-free in his absence. That would be a ‘license’. It would obviously be
wrong for his friend to transfer his right to a third party.
2) As leases are property rights, they in principle bind third party purchases of the
landlord’s reversion.
--Licenses generally do NOT bind the purchasers of land over which the license is
exercisable.
--Exceptionally, a license could bind a purchaser if a license acquired, by his activities
on the land, a proprietary estoppel or a constructive trust.
3) Leases are subject to security of tenure legislation such as the Rent Acts, licenses are
generally outside the scope of such legislation.
*--Therefore, main distinctions are that:
1) Leases can bind third parties
2) The holder of a lease has security of tenure created by statute but a license has not.
Terminology
-Landlord = Lessor
-Tenant = Lessee
--A lease beteen a landlord and tenant is called a headlease
-Assignment = A transfer by a tent of his interest.
The Essential Characteristics of a Lease (Exclusive Possession)
Street v Mountford [1985]: Under what was described as a license agreement, X was given
exclusive possession of furnished rooms at a rent. She had signed a statement at the end of the
agreement that this was not intended to give rise to a tenancy under the Rent Acts. It was held
that in fact she did have a tenancy.
Held (Legal Principle): A lease must have three characteristics:
1) Exclusive possession
2) Be for a fixed or periodic term
3) At a rent
If so, there will be a tenancy, unless there are exceptional circumstances which make it a
license.
-A lease is referred to as a ‘term of years’ or as a ‘demise’.
-Lease: A lease is an estate in the land which, therefore, gives a proprietary interest in the
land.
-License: Permission from an owner of land (licensor) to the licensee to use the land for an
agreed purpose.
*-A lease and a license are different in three ways:
1) As leases are property rights (an estate or interest in land), they are in principle freely
alienable. That is, they cannot be sold, given away, or left by will.
--A license is a right personal to the licensee and cannot be assigned.
--i.e. Suppose roger was going away for weeks and allowed a friend of his to occupy
his flat rent-free in his absence. That would be a ‘license’. It would obviously be
wrong for his friend to transfer his right to a third party.
2) As leases are property rights, they in principle bind third party purchases of the
landlord’s reversion.
--Licenses generally do NOT bind the purchasers of land over which the license is
exercisable.
--Exceptionally, a license could bind a purchaser if a license acquired, by his activities
on the land, a proprietary estoppel or a constructive trust.
3) Leases are subject to security of tenure legislation such as the Rent Acts, licenses are
generally outside the scope of such legislation.
*--Therefore, main distinctions are that:
1) Leases can bind third parties
2) The holder of a lease has security of tenure created by statute but a license has not.
Terminology
-Landlord = Lessor
-Tenant = Lessee
--A lease beteen a landlord and tenant is called a headlease
-Assignment = A transfer by a tent of his interest.
The Essential Characteristics of a Lease (Exclusive Possession)
Street v Mountford [1985]: Under what was described as a license agreement, X was given
exclusive possession of furnished rooms at a rent. She had signed a statement at the end of the
agreement that this was not intended to give rise to a tenancy under the Rent Acts. It was held
that in fact she did have a tenancy.
Held (Legal Principle): A lease must have three characteristics:
1) Exclusive possession
2) Be for a fixed or periodic term
3) At a rent
If so, there will be a tenancy, unless there are exceptional circumstances which make it a
license.
