The Meaning Of ‘Intent'

S Franses Ltd (Appellant) v The Cavendish Hotel (London) Ltd (Respondent) [2018] UKSC 62 On appeal from: [2017] EWHC 1670 (QB)

Business tenants have the protection of security of tenure. When their business tenancy ends they are generally entitled to a protected renewal tenancy at an open market rent. However a landlord can oppose a renewal tenancy if it intends to substantially demolish or reconstruct the premises occupied by the tenant. The question which was leapfrogged from the High Court to the Supreme Court was whether it is open to the landlord to oppose the grant of a renewal tenancy (under section 30(1)(f) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954) if the works which the landlord says he intends to carry out would have no proper purpose other than to rid the landlord of the tenant and would not be undertaken at all if the tenant were to leave voluntarily.