Cases - Blunden v Frogmore Investments Ltd

Record details

Name
Blunden v Frogmore Investments Ltd
Date
[2002]
Citation
2 EGLR 29, CA
Legislation
Keywords
Commercial property – landlord and tenant – notice of termination – express term entitling landlord to give notice of termination in certain circumstances – whether the landlord had given a valid notice of termination – whether the notice of termination had been delivered in accordance with statute - Law of Property Act 1925, s. 196 – Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, s. 23(1) - Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, s. 25
Summary

The tenant vacated the premises following extensive damage by a bomb. The lease gave the landlord the right to give notice of termination in these circumstances, and it allowed notices to be served in accordance with section 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925 or left, addressed to the tenant, at the premises. The landlord served that notice, together with a notice under section 25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, both in accordance with section 196 (i.e. by recorded delivery post to the last known address of the tenant) and also by fixing the notices on the vacated premises. The tenant was away from home at the time, and, on his return found a communication from the post office that it held a recorded delivery item. However, by then the recorded delivery items had been returned to the landlord's solicitor as undelivered. Nevertheless service of the termination notice was deemed to have taken place by virtue of the express terms of the lease and section 196. Furthermore, the section 25 notice was deemed duly served since posting complied with section 23(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, as incorporated into the 1954 Act, despite the non-delivery.