The Courts & Lease Renewals

The use or occupation by a commercial third party of part of a hospital could well give the third party the right to renew its occupancy at the contractual end of the agreement allowing the occupation because a Tenant of business premises has the right to renew its Lease at the end of the Lease term. Calling the occupancy a Licence will not prevent the Courts from deciding that it is in fact a Tenancy (a Lease) if the occupier had exclusive occupation of the area, especially if rent is paid. This rule does not apply if before the Lease was granted/a relationship of Landlord and Tenant was created an exclusion order (often called a contracting out order) was obtained from the Court. There are certain other exceptions to this principle which this article does not address.