Snapshots from Commercial Property – November

In this special feature, our commercial property team provide snapshots of the latest commercial property law news throughout November.

A tenant covenant to keep premises in ‘condition’ is more onerous than you might expect

Modern commercial leases will often include a covenant by a tenant to keep premises in ‘good repair and condition’ (and will often go further and require ‘good and substantial repair and condition’). Recent case law (Pullman Foods Ltd v Welsh Ministers & BFS Group Ltd) has established that an obligation to keep premises in condition goes further than a covenant to keep in repair and will include, as in Pullman Foods Ltd v Welsh Ministers & BFS Group Ltd, an obligation to remove asbestos-containing materials from the premises where the presence of such items meant that the premises were not in good condition.

Easily identifiable benefitting land and express words of annexation not essential for enforceability of pre-1926 restrictive covenants

Restrictive covenants imposed in 1922 with the potential to prevent Bath Rugby Club from redeveloping its home ground have been held enforceable notwithstanding that the land with the benefit of the covenants is not easily identifiable from the original conveyance and the conveyance contains no express words of annexation; a description of the benefitting land as “adjoining or near” and an inference of annexation were enough (Bath Rugby Ltd v Greenwood & Ors (pre-1926 restrictive covenants affecting land).

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