Have your cake and eat it: Caterpillar Properties v Park Cakes
In this episode, Richard and Lizzie unpack the Court of Appeal’s remarkably fast-tracked judgment handed down on 13th May, following the original County Court decision on 20th March. The case raises a fascinating and largely untested argument under section 28 of the 1954 Act: can an option to renew amount to an agreement for lease, taking it outside the protection of the Act altogether?
Richard discusses the background facts, why the appeal moved through the courts so rapidly, what the Court of Appeal decided, and what landlords, tenants and property lawyers should now be thinking about when drafting and exercising renewal options.
For anyone dealing with commercial leases, security of tenure or renewal rights, this is a case worth watching closely.
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