Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1892

CONVEYANCING AND LAW OF PROPERTY ACT 1892

CHAPTER XIII.

An Act to amend the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1881. [20th June 1892]

Preliminary.

Short title and extent.

44 & 45 Vict. c. 41.

45 & 46 Vict. c. 39.

1.(1) This Act may be cited as the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1892, and the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1881, and the Conveyancing Act, 1882, and this Act shall be read together and may be cited together as the Conveyancing Acts, 1881, 1882, and 1892.

(2) This Act does not extend to Scotland.

Leases, Under-leases, Forfeiture.

Costs of waiver, and forfeiture in case of bankruptcy or execution.

2.(1) A lessor shall be entitled to recover as a debt due to him from a lessee, and in addition to damages (if any) all reasonable costs and expenses properly incurred by the lessor in the employment of a solicitor and surveyor or valuer, or otherwise, in reference to any breach giving rise to a right of re-entry or forfeiture which, at the request of the lessee, is waived by the lessor by writing under his hand, or from which the lessee is relieved, under the provisions of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1881, or of this Act.

(2) Sub-section six of section fourteen of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1881, is to apply to a condition for forfeiture on bankruptcy of the lessee, or on taking in execution of the lessee’s interest only after the expiration of one year from the date of the bankruptcy, or taking in execution, and provided the lessee’s interest be not sold within such one year, but in case the lessee’s interest be sold within such one year, sub-section six shall cease to be applicable thereto.

(3) Sub-section two of this section is not to apply to any lease of—

(a) Agricultural or pastoral land:

(b) Mines or minerals:

(c) A house used or intended to be used as a public-house or beershop:

(d) A house let as a dwelling-house, with the use of any furniture, books, works of art, or other chattels not being in the nature of fixtures:

(e) Any property with respect to which the personal qualifications of the tenant are of importance for the preservation of the value or character of the property, or on the ground of neighbourhood to the lessor, or to any person holding under him.

No fine to be exacted for licence to assign.

3. In all leases, containing a covenant, condition, or agreement against assigning, underletting, or parting with the possession, or disposing of the land or property leased without licence or consent, such covenant, condition, or agreement shall, unless the lease contains an expressed provision to the contrary, be deemed to be subject to a proviso to the effect that no fine or sum of money in the nature of a fine shall be payable for or in respect of such licence or consent; but this proviso shall not preclude the right to require the payment of a reasonable sum in respect of any legal or other expense incurred in relation to such licence or consent.

Power of court to protect under-lessees on forfeiture of superior leases.

4. Where a lessor is proceeding by action or otherwise to enforce a right of re-entry or forfeiture under any covenant, proviso, or stipulation in a lease, the court may, on application by any person claiming as under-lessee any estate or interest in the property comprised in the lease or any part thereof either in the lessor’s action (if any) or in any action brought by such person for that purpose, make an order vesting for the whole term of the lease or any less term the property comprised in the lease or any part thereof in any person entitled as under-lessee to any estate or interest in such property upon such conditions, as to execution of any deed or other document, payment of rent, costs, expenses, damages, compensation, giving security, or otherwise, as the court in the circumstances of each case shall think fit, but in no case shall any such under-lessee be entitled to require a lease to be granted to him for any longer term than he had under his original sub-lease.

Extension of definitions of “lease,” “under-lease,” and “under-lessee.”

5. In section fourteen of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1881, as amended by this Act, and in this Act, “lease” shall also include an agreement for a lease where the lessee has become entitled to have his lease granted, and “under-lease” shall also include an agreement for an under-lease where the under-lessee has become entitled to have his under-lease granted, and in this Act “under-lessee” shall include any person deriving title under or from an under-lessee.

[S. 6 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 53, s. 51.]