What are premises?

Majorstake Ltd v Curtis H of L [2008] All ER (D) 70 (Feb); TLR 12 February

The tenant in a flat in a block of flats gave notice to the landlord under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, s42 claiming to exercise his right to acquire a new lease. The landlord served a counter-notice under s45 admitting the tenant’s right to claim a new lease, but stating that it was intended to apply for an order under s47(1) that the right should not be exercised on the basis that it intended to redevelop the premises. The landlord’s intention was to create a single maisonette out of the tenant’s flat and the flat immediately below. Section 47(1) provides that the court might ‘by order declare that that the right to acquire a new lease shall not be exercisable by the tenant by reason of the landlord’s intention to redevelop any premises in which the flat is contained’. Section 47(2)(b)(ii) requires the court to be satisfied that the landlord intends upon the expiration of the lease ‘to carry out substantial works of construction on the whole, or substantial part of, any premises in which the flat is contained’.