This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more

LPC Law Notes Property Law and Practice Notes

Covenants Notes

Updated Covenants Notes Notes

Property Law and Practice Notes

Property Law and Practice

Approximately 490 pages

A collection of the best LPC PLP notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor".

In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of PLP notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is fully updated for recent exams, a...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Property Law and Practice Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

Type of clause? What does it do? Landlord’s Concerns Tenant’s Concerns SC/SCPC/Statute? Remedy for Breach
User Covenant

Restricts the tenant’s use of the premises

Planning Legislation – tenant may not be able to carry out any building or other operations. Cannot make a material change in use of premises without obtaining planning permission

Covenants affecting a superior title – restrictive covenants affecting the landlord’s reversionary title which bind tenant

Common law restraints – law of nuisance may prevent tenant from using premises in such a way as to cause disturbance to a neighbour

  • Maintain value of interest in premises

  • Maintain rental value of premises

  • Avoid damaging reputation of premises by immoral or undesirable uses

  • Maintain value of adjoining premises owned by landlord

  • Avoid tenant competing with other premises of landlord in vicinity

  • Maintain a good mix of different retail uses in a shopping precinct owned by landlord

  • Perform balancing act between control of the tenant and good estate management, and maximisation of rental values

Ensure lease clearly states that any reference to the UCO is intended to refer to the Order as enacted at the time the lease was granted

  • Rental values and rent review reflecting restrictive use

  • Narrower covenant avoided as limits ability to dispose of premises at some stage in future

  • Have regard to own future use of premises

  • Not too wide that will allow landlord to increase rental value of tenant’s interest at review

  • Ought to resist a positive covenant

Code cl.8 – landlords’ control over alterations and changes of use should not be more restrictive than necessary…

Can define use by reference to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (UCO)

Landlord can claim damages for tenant breach of positive covenant

Claim injunction for breach of negative covenant

Absolute Covenant

Gives landlord absolute control over any change in the use of the premises in that it permits the tenant to use the premises for the purpose of the permitted use and no other

Can only use premises in way not permitted by getting landlord to agree to a variation of the lease

  • If narrowly defined then resist, unless sure that will not want to assign or sub-let the premises, or diversify business

  • If widely defined, then tenant need not be unduly concerned

Qualified Covenant Allows tenant to alter the use of the premises from a permitted use to some other use with the landlord’s prior consent, usually required to be given in writing
  • Tenant is at mercy of landlord who may decline request for change of use for whatever reason he chooses

No statutorily implied provision that the landlord’s consent is not to be unreasonably withheld

S19(3) LTA 1927

Provided change of use will not entail any structural alterations to the premises, the landlord is not allowed to demand as a condition of his giving consent the payment of a lump sum or an increased rent

BUT can insist upon payment of reasonable compensation in respect of damage to or diminution in value of premises or any neighbouring premises belonging to landlord

Does not apply to agricultural or mining leases

Fully Qualified Covenant Allows tenant to change the use of the premises with the prior...

Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Property Law and Practice Notes.

More Property Law And Practice Samples