PP 2004/15

In the past few years, DIY has really taken off in the UK, no doubt aided in part by a glut of TV shows. But in what circumstances are tenants allowed to improve their properties? Sandi Murdoch, in her legal note Time to be reasonable Estates Gazette 17 July 2004, at p115, states that, where a tenant’s proposed alterations amount to improvements and can be carried out only with the landlord’s consent, section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 requires that consent not be unreasonably withheld. She analyses two recent judgments in which the court upheld the respective landlord’s reasons as being “reasonable” justification for the refusal of consent: – Iqbal v Thakrar [2004] EWCA Civ 592; [2004] PLSCS 125, relating to the conversion of a ground-floor premises into a restaurant; and – Sargeant v Macepark (Whittlebury) Ltd [2004] EWHC 1333 (Ch); [2004] 25 EG 171 (CS), in which a couple involved in corporate hospitality sought to prevent their tenant, a hotel operator, from holding wedding ceremonies. In an earlier legal note, A useful mechanism Estates Gazette 12 June 2004, at p147, Sandi also considered Norfolk Capital Group Ltd v Cadogan Estates [2004] EWHC 384 (Ch); [2004] 32 EG 64 in her discussion of the implications for a tenant where a landlord objects to a notice of proposed improvements on the basis that it will do the works itself. Related items: PP 2002/194 Piece together the alternatives on alterations Estates Gazette 28 September 2002, at p146 (Andrew Wade and Sarah Hind)