Licences & Leases

• what is a license?

  * a permission

  * a temporary permission

  * a conditional permission
• what are some elements of a license?

  • It may be contractual
  • It can be withdrawn
  • It does not bind third parties
  • And it poses no threat to those who might acquire an interest
• what does it mean when a license does not bind a third party?

  it doesn’t bind anyone other than the person who owns the property & the person who is living in the property
• what does it mean when there can be a license to use/occupy property?

  = is a personal arrangement by gaining permission from the title successor e.g children living with parents (parents can kick out children)
• what is the meaning of license & power?

  = where power is relevant to license arrangements as when someone grants you the right of access via license, the property owner retains the power to revoke the right of access at their own discretion
• what is the L.P of Porter v Commissioner of Police (where a mother remained in the LEB showroom with her children because she would have to pay extra to acquire an electrician)

  L.P: if the claimant became a trespasser by refusing to leave the premises, the owner is entitled to the power to revoke their right to access (landowner can change their status to an unlawful one)
• what is the L.P of Aldrington Garages Ltd V Fielder (where the parties succeed in producing an agreement which is a license & not a tenancy)

  L.P: established the concept of contractural autonomy, where two consenting adults are allowed to establish a contract together & courts should not intervene as it was voluntarily signed by the two parties
• what is the L.P of Street V Mountford? (where Mountford & her husband raised a claim to be registered a fair rent under the Rents Act as the fair rent officer stated that they were paying too much money to the landowner)

  L.P provided the official distinction between a license and a lease

  L.P: establish elements needed for a lease

  L.P: held that claimant can still be a tenant even if the agreement they signed stated that they had only a license if the agreement granted them exclusive occupation of residential accommodation for a term at a rent
• what does Lord Templeman state is a lease?

  "If the agreement satisfied all the requirements of a tenancy, then the agreement produced a tenancy and the parties cannot alter the effect of the agreement by insisting that they only created a licence.”
• what are the requirements of a lease according to Street V Mountford?

  1. A grant of land
  2. For a term (can be any amount but has to be specified in the agreement
  3. Has to be rent payable
  4. With exclusive possession of the land (MOST IMPORTANT)
• what is the meaning of exclusive possession of the land?

  = tenant can exclude everyone but the landlords as they have obligations to enter the tenant's residents
• what is the main difference between a license & a lease?

  main difference is in comparison with a lease, a licence does not confer exclusive possession of the land