Topic > Two Types of Leases - 2011

A lease is an interest in land that allows the owner to enjoy it for the duration of the lease. There are two types of rental contracts: fixed-term and periodic rentals. The former can exist for any period of time as long as a maximum duration is set while the latter is characterized by payments at regular intervals, such as weekly, and continues to renew automatically until the owner or tenant chooses to terminate the contract. In contrast, a license is a personal authorization to occupy or use land owned by the freeholder. There are four types of licenses, namely: simple licenses, interest-related licenses, contractual licenses and estoppel licenses. However, unlike a lease, a license is not the same as ownership or an interest in land, it is basically a legal right for the licensee to occupy the property without being considered a trespasser. As the outright owner of the block of flats, Henry's success in his attempt to obtain a possession order for the three flats depends largely on the status of the occupants: whether they are licensees or tenants. The first issue to be resolved is to determine the type of right the occupants have to occupy their apartment, such as the right to lease or license. Although the agreement includes a clause identifying it as a license and not a lease, this is of little importance because case law since the precedent of Addiscombe Gardens Estates Ltd v Crabbe has shown that the law is more concerned with the type of relationship the actual construction of the agreement is created between the parties, rather than the words used in the agreement to resemble the label the parties intend the relationship to be. So, the main i...... half of the document ......n & Quadrant Housing Trust', (2005), CPL, 121.[1875] LR CP 402 (CtCP).[1992] 2 AC 288 (HL).Judith Bray, Unlocking Land Law, (3rd edition, Hodder Education, 2010), 349.[1978] 1 WLR 1014 (CA).John-Paul Hinojosa, "On Property, Leases, Licenses, Horses and Carts: Revisiting Bruton v London and Quadrant Housing Trust", (2005), CPL, 114.Roger Sexton, Barbara Bogusz, Law land Text, Cases, and Materials, (3rd edition, Oxford University Press), 345-348. Roger Sexton, Barbara Bogusz, Land Law Text, Cases, and Materials, (3rd edition, Oxford University Press), 298-299.[1958 ] 1 QB 513 (CA).[1985] 2 All ER 289 (HL). Roger Sexton, Barbara Bogusz, Land Law Text, Cases, and Materials, (3rd edition, Oxford University Press), 345.[1944] KB 368 (CA). Joe Cursley, Mark Davys, Land Law, (7th edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 156.[1988] 3 WLR 1205 (HL).