Some cases take a little time to come to light. Inclusive Technology v Williamson [2009] EWCA Civ 718 is a Court of Appeal case from May 2009. It appears to be the first reported instance of an award of compensation against a landlord under section 37A LTA 1954 (compensation for possession obtained by misrepresentation). It involved a landlord who served a section 25 notice on the basis of ground (f), who stated in an accompanying letter that it had the intention to redevelop, and that it required possession for that purpose, and who then subsequently changed its mind, and did not inform the tenant of this before the tenant relocated to other premises. The tenant was awarded compensation under section 37A. The moral of the case for landlords appears to be this: keep your intentions under your hat. Whilst a landlord needs to specify a ground of opposition in any hostile section 25 notice it serves, doing so is stating no more than: “when this matter gets to court, I aim to prove that I will then have a sufficient intention to redevelop”. If, in addition to the notice, the landlord discloses a current intention at the point of service, there arises a danger, as in this case, that its statement of intent is viewed as a continuing one, which transmutes into a misrepresentation if the landlord’s intention changes and is not disclosed.
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