Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1943

Amendment of section 46 of the Principal Act.

2.—(1) Sub-section (1) of section 46 of the Principal Act is hereby amended as follows, that is to say:—

(a) by the insertion of the following words at the end, and as part, of paragraph (a) of the said sub-section, that is to say:—

“or, if such land is not so situate, such land was demised by such lease for a term of not less than twenty years”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following words at the end, and as part, of paragraph (d) of the said sub-section, that is to say:—

“or were erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of such lease upon the erection of such permanent buildings”.

(2) Where a lease (in this Act referred to as a partly-built lease) which expires after the passing of this Act would, at its expiration, be a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) (as amended by the foregoing sub-section of this section) of section 46 of the Principal Act but for either or both of the following facts, that is to say, that, though there are (in either case), at such expiration, permanent buildings on the land demised by such lease, the portion of that land which is not covered by such buildings is not wholly subsidiary and ancillary to such buildings or some (but not all) of such buildings were neither erected by the lessee under the partly-built lease nor erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of that lease on their erection, the following provisions shall apply and have effect by way of amendment of the said section 46 , that is to say:—

(a) the partly-built lease shall, for the purposes of Part V of the Principal Act, be deemed to be at its expiration and to have been since the passing of this Act or for the seven years next preceding such expiration (whichever period is the shorter) two separate leases whereof one lease (in this Act referred to as the built-on lease) comprises that portion of the land demised by the partly-built lease which is covered with permanent buildings, either erected by the person entitled at their erection to the lessee's interest under the partly-built lease or erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of that lease on their erection, together with so much of the said land as is subsidiary and ancillary to those buildings and the other lease (in this Act referred to as the vacant lease) comprises the residue of the said land, whether there are or are not permanent buildings on that residue;

(b) for the purposes of such division of the partly-built lease, the rent thereby reserved shall be deemed to be apportioned between the built-on lease and the vacant lease rateably in proportion to the area of the land comprised in those leases respectively, and the covenants on the lessee's part and the conditions contained in the partly-built lease shall be deemed to be apportioned likewise so as to relate separately to the land comprised in the built-on lease and to the land comprised in the vacant lease;

(c) the built-on lease shall be deemed to be, at the expiration of the partly-built lease and to have been since the said division of that lease, a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of section 46 of the Principal Act as amended by this Act, and Part V of that Act shall apply and have effect in relation thereto accordingly;

(d) a sublease of part of the land comprised in the partly-built lease, which would, at the expiration thereof, be a proprietary lease as defined in sub-section (2) of section 46 of the Principal Act if the partly-built lease were a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of that section as amended by this Act, shall be deemed to be at the said expiration and to have been from the passing of this Act or the commencement of the term demised by such sublease (whichever is the later) a proprietary lease as so defined as aforesaid, and Part V of the Principal Act shall apply and have effect in relation thereto accordingly, and for that purpose the partly-built lease shall be deemed to be the building lease of which the said sublease is a sublease.

(3) Where a lease is alleged in any Court to be a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) (as amended by this section) of section 46 of the Principal Act by reason of the permanent buildings mentioned in the said sub-section having been erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of such lease upon the erection of those buildings but express evidence of such agreement is not available, the following provisions shall apply and have effect, that is to say:—

(a) if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the said buildings were erected by the person to whom the said lease was subsequently made, it shall be presumed that such agreement was in fact made and that the said buildings were erected in pursuance thereof;

(b) in any case to which the foregoing paragraph of this sub-section does not apply, it shall be lawful for the Court, if it so thinks proper on hearing such evidence as is available and is adduced, to presume that such agreement was in fact made and that the said buildings were erected in pursuance thereof.