Case Law Update – December 2025

A practical review of recent commercial property and landlord and tenant cases, which will include:

• Opposing lease renewal – the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ under (f) redevelopment and (g) landlord’s occupation: Spirit Pub Co v Pridewell; MVL v The Leadmill
• 1954 Act consultation: Law Commission’s statement and other reform proposals
• Relief from forfeiture:
  • Restoring the landlord to its pre-breach position: Sik v Malik
  • Problems for sub-tenants: Derwent v Signature
• Repudiatory breach of lease by landlord – can it happen, and how? Ramsbury v Ocean View
• Property contracts
  • Pricing for misrepresentation: lessons from Patarkatsishvili v Woodward-Fisher
  • Termination clauses & own breach “clear and entirely unequivocal”: Weston v Henley
• Boundaries: unpicking demarcation agreements: White v Alder
• Adverse possession: the Supreme Court on “reasonable belief”: Brown v Ridley
• Modifying restrictive covenants and practical benefits to local authority landlords: Great Jackson v City of Manchester

Sarah Thompson Copsey, Non-Practising Solicitor, Legal Lecturer and Trainer