Property Law Seminar – “Lease or licence? Recent English Cases on the Distinction and its Significance” by Prof. Michael Lower (Online)

The distinction between a lease and a licence matters because the lease is proprietary and the landlord-tenant relationship is governed not only by contract law but also by the law of landlord and tenant. This seminar explains and evaluates two recent English cases about the distinction between the lease and the licence. 

Camelot Guardian Management Ltd v Khoo ([2018] EWHC 2296) re-visits the question as to when the terms of an agreement might be considered to be ‘sham’ terms; a sham term is one that does not accord with the parties’ true contractual intention but seeks to mislead the court as to the true nature of the agreement. 

In The Manchester Ship Canal Company v Vauxhall Motors Ltd ([2019] UKSC 46) the UK Supreme Court granted relief from forfeiture of a contractual licence. This is surprising given that it had previously been understood that relief was only available in respect of leases.

About the speaker: Prof. Michael Lower