LC-2023-000815 - [2024] UKUT 263 (LC)

All references to Paragraphs in this decision are, unless otherwise indicated, references to the paragraphs of the Decision. Reference to “the Tribunal” mean the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber. I will use the collective expression “the Agreements” to refer to the two agreements with which the Appeal is concerned. The expressions “lease” and “tenancy” are used interchangeably. Italics have been added to quotations.

I have already mentioned the volume of authorities which were before me in the Appeal. Normally, this would be a ground for criticism of the parties’ legal teams, for their failure to edit down the authorities to more manageable proportions, ensuring that only one authority was cited for each proposition of law relied upon. In the present case, and unusually, I am prepared to accept that the parties’ legal teams, with some limited exceptions, were not guilty of excessive citation of authorities. As will become apparent, the lease/licence dispute raised an unusually wide range of issues, which in turn engaged a wide range of authorities.

There is one further point to add, in relation to the authorities. I have not found it necessary, in this decision, to make reference to each and every authority referred to in the written and oral submissions. All of these authorities have been taken into account in my consideration of the Appeal but, as I have said, I have not found it necessary to make express reference to every authority.