The Howard de Walden Estate, the freeholder of most of Marylebone, won a Court of Appeal case yesterday clarifying intermediate landlords rights relating to leaseholder enfranchisement claims.
The case was brought by a long-lease tenant of a flat in Harley Street seeking to extend that lease under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
Howard de Walden Estate, the freeholder, and the tenant agreed between themselves the amount payable to both the freeholder and the intermediate landlord to extend the lease. The interim landlord, however, disputed the arrangement.
The intermediate landlord of the block served notice of separate representation. The freeholder and the claimant tenant agreed the amount of the premium payable to the freeholder and the intermediate landlord respectively, but the intermediate landlord disputed that apportionment.
However, in yesterday’s judgment, a panel of three judges found that there was a valid policy objective in having one landlord party for negotiations with the tenant, while allowing other landlords to have their say at any tribunal hearing.
They ruled that an agreement reached between the competent landlord and the tenant would bind the intermediate landlord, even where notice of separate representation had been served. The first-tier tribunal would cease to have any jurisdiction in the case once that agreement was reached. This state of affairs did not infringe the intermediate landlord’s human rights, they ruled.
Jeremy Hudson, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, the firm that advised the Howard de Walden Estate in this matter, said that the ruling should be of interest to anyone in the real estate sector concerned with leaseholder enfranchisement claims.
“This decision clarifies once and for all the limited nature of an intermediate landlord’s right to be separately represented”, he said.
“The decision also clarifies the position for Tribunals concerned about their jurisdiction to hear an intermediate landlord challenge to an agreement reached by the other parties,” he said.
Stella Kateb v Howard De Walden Estates Limited, Accordway Limited
Court of Appeal (Pattern LJ, Sales LJ, Richards LJ) 29 November 2016
James Fieldsend (instructed by Wallace LLP) for the Appellant
Anthony Radevsky (instructed by Charles Russell Speechlys LLP) for the First Respondents
