Landlord and Tenant - Lease reserving right to develop without prejudice to covenant for quiet enjoyment

Landlord and Tenant - Lease reserving right to develop without prejudice to covenant for quiet enjoyment

- landlord and defendant proposing to develop adjacent land not belonging to landlord - claimant entitled to assert easement of light against defendantParagon Finance Plc v City of London Real Property Co Ltd: ChD (Judge Rich QC sitting as a High Court judge): 16 July 2001The landlord leased premises to the claimant, reserving a right to develop land not comprised in the lease without prejudice to the covenant for quiet enjoyment.

The claimant, by virtue of the lease, enjoyed an easement of light over adjacent land not belonging to the landlord.The landlord and the defendant proposed to develop the adjacent land in a way which would substantially interfere with the claimants' easement of light.

The claimant sought an injunction preventing the interference or damages in lieu.Paul Morgan QC (instructed by Dewar Hogan) for the claimant.

Jonathan Gaunt QC (instructed by Maxwell Batley) for the defendant.Held, giving judgment for the claimant, that the right to develop, which was expressed to be without prejudice to the covenant for quiet enjoyment, was not subject to it; that the covenant for quiet enjoyment continued in operation save in so far as the landlord's right to develop permitted impingement upon it; that the phrase 'not comprised in the lease' had to be construed restrictively and the landlord's right to develop land only entitled it to develop its own land without infringing the claimants right to light; and that the claimant was therefore entitled to assert its right to light as against the defendant who was proposing to develop land that did not belong to the landlord.