Chapter 8 Multiple Choice questions

. Lord Templeman in Street v Mountford (1985) set out the essential features of a lease. Which one of the following statements correctly identifies these classic characteristics?

The grant of exclusion possession

Certainty of term and the payment of a rent

The intention to create a lease

The grant of exclusion possession, for a certain term at a rent.

. What is meant by 'exclusive possession'? Which one of the following statements accurately describes the current law?

'Exclusive possession' is synonymous with 'exclusive occupation.'

'Exclusive possession' means the tenant has the right to exclude the world at large except the landlord.

'Exclusive possession' means the tenant has the right to exclude the world at large including the landlord (subject to the terms of the lease).

. Which of the following statements as regards certainty of duration is incorrect?

Certainty of duration requires certainty as to when the lease will commence.

Certainty of duration requires certainty as to when the lease will terminate.

A lease will fail for certainty if it is stated as terminating on the occurrence of an uncertain event.

The Supreme Court in Berrisford v Mexfield (2011) abolished the certainty of term requirement.

The Supreme Court in Berrisford v Mexfield (2011) challenged yet reaffirmed the certainty of term requirement.

. Which of the following is not a workaround or 'cure' for a lease which appears to breach the certainty of term requirement?

Under section 149(6) of the Law of Property Act 1925, a lease granted for the period of a person's life takes effect as a valid 90-year lease determinable on the death of that person.

Again under section 149(6) of the 1925 Act, a lease granted to a person until marriage also takes effect as a 90 year lease determinable upon the occurrence of the marriage.

Under section 145 and Schedule 15 paragraph 1 of the Law of Property Act 1925, a lease which is perpetually renewable takes effect as a lease for 2,000 years determinable only by the lessee.

In times of war, the requirement for certainty of term lapses and no lease will fail on this ground.

. What, in fact, is the status of the 'rent' characteristic of leases? Select one of the following.

Rent is not strictly required for a lease to arise as it is not included within the definition of leasehold in the LPA 1925.

The payment of rent is evidence of a contract only and not a lease.

The payment of rent is a strict requirement without which a lease cannot exist.

The payment of rent was given by Lord Templeman in Street as an essential characteristic of a lease and so must be followed.

. In determining whether a lease or a licence exists on a given set of facts, the court is prepared to look beyond shams and labels to ascertain the true nature of the relationship. In which one of the following cases did the court disregard an apparent 'licence' to find a lease?

Markou v De Silvaesa (1986)

AG Securities v Vaughn (1990)

Antoniades v Villiers (1990)

Westminster City Council v Clarke (1992)

. What was so remarkable about the decision in Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust (2000)?

Bruton disrupted and dislodged the orthodoxy in holding that Mr Bruton was a tenant even though the party granting the lease did not itself have a proprietary estate out of which a lease could be granted.

Bruton established that repair obligations are owed to homeless individuals occupying residential property.

Bruton overturned the Street v Mountford (1985) 'essential characteristics' of a lease.

Bruton is not a significant decision as it has never been followed.

. Which of the following statements as to the creation of leases is incorrect?

Short legal leases of three years or less, provided the tenant is granted an immediate right to possession of the land requiring payment of an initial sum (a premium) and the lease is granted 'at best rent,' can be created orally.

In order to be legal, leases of more than three years must be made in writing signed by the parties if they are to operate at law.

Leases of more than seven years in registered land amount to registrable dispositions under s. 27 of the LRA 2002 and must be completed by registration to operate at law.

Where an attempt is made to create a legal lease but it fails for want of formality, equity may nevertheless treat a specifically enforceable agreement for a lease as an equitable lease on the same terms as the defective lease.

. Which one of the following statements as to the termination of leases is incorrect?

A fixed term lease terminates at the end of the fixed term laid down in the lease itself.

Periodic tenancies operate, by their nature, from period to period and thus are brought to an end by the serving of notice equivalent in duration to one period.

Tenancies at will can only be brought to an end by either party serving a notice to quit the tenancy.

Where the tenant acquires the freehold land out of which the tenancy was carved, the lease is necessarily terminated.

Where a landlord is entitled to forfeit the lease for breach of a leasehold covenant, this has the effect of bringing the lease to an end (subject to relief from forfeiture).

. Forfeiture of the lease for breach of covenant is by far the most potent of all the rights and remedies available to a landlord. As to the circumstances in which forfeiture will be available to a landlord, which one of the following statements is incorrect?

Forfeiture is chiefly only available where the lease contains a forfeiture clause or the covenant breached is drafted in the lease as a condition.

The procedure for forfeiture for non-payment of rent is governed by the Common Law Procedure Act 1852 and by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act (CLRA) 2002 as to long leases of dwellings.

Forfeiture for breaches other than non-payment of rent require the landlord to serve a s. 146 LPA 1925 notice setting out the breach, if it is capable of remedy requiring the tenant to remedy it, and whether compensation is sought.

Today, whether a breach of covenant is remediable is determined by whether the covenant breached is positive or negative in character.

Two breaches of covenant remain unremediable as a matter of principle according to case law: breach of the covenant against sub-letting; breach of the covenant against immoral/illegal user.

Chapter 8 Multiple Choice questions

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