Price v Cadogan Estates Ltd (2022, Central London County Court)
Tony Radevsky (instructed by Cripps LLP) acted for the successful Defendant in a recent case under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The lessees of a valuable flat in Cadogan Gardens made a claim for a new lease. A premium of over £4 million was agreed on 23 July 2021. The appropriate period expired in September 2021 but the lessees did not have the money to complete. Their mortgagee applied under s. 48(3) of the Act in their names for an extension of time to 27 May 2022 in order to sell the flat to raise funds. The bank did not pursue that claim and the lessees took it over. They sought an extension of time to allow them to raise funds to pay the premium. On 4 November 2022 H.H. Judge Johns KC dismissed their application and ordered that the s. 42 notice be deemed withdrawn at the end of the appropriate period (s. 48(4)). The failure to complete was solely down to the lessees and considerable time had passed. A tenant should not be entitled to keep alive a statutory contract which it has not been able to perform. Since over twelve months had elapsed since the end of the appropriate period, the lessees could serve a new s. 42 notice if they wished.
The Judge rejected an alternative course to extend time but provide for the payment of interest on the premium.
A copy of the judgment can be found here.
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