Cases - Frederick Betts Ltd v Pickfords Ltd

Record details

Name

Frederick Betts Ltd v Pickfords Ltd

Date

(1906)

Citation

2 Ch. 87

Keywords

Rights of light

Summary

The defendant occupied 2 adjoining plots, one of which he then leased to the plaintiff. By a covenant in the lease, the plaintiff agreed to build a warehouse on the leased plot in accordance with approved plans. The plans provided for the back wall of the warehouse to contain windows. To enable the plaintiff to build in accordance with the plans, the defendant agreed to clear the buildings which stood on the leased land and to demolish one end of a building which stood partly on the plaintiff's and partly on the defendant's land. The defendant failed satisfactorily to remove one of the buildings and as a result the local authority considered the back wall of the warehouse to be a party wall and ordered the plaintiff to block up the windows (as a party wall could not have windows).

The court held that where a landlord leases part of his property for a particular business, he must not derogate from his grant, i.e. he must not do anything which would render those premises unfit for the purpose for which they were leased. In this case, the plaintiff was granted a lease containing a covenant to construct buildings in accordance with approved plans, which included windows. The plaintiff was therefore entitled, by implied grant, to the access of light through the windows during the term of the lease. The defendant's use of the wall as a party wall (which led to the local authority's demand that the windows must be blocked up) derogated from the grant of the right to open the windows and the privilege of having light come through them.