Park Cakes Limited v Caterpillar Property Limited (M80LS041 20 March 2026)
James Andrews-Tipler appeared for the successful claimant tenant, Park Cakes Limited (bakers and suppliers of the iconic Colin the Caterpillar Cake) in this Part 8 claim for declaratory relief in the Leeds Business & Property Courts which raised a novel point of construction of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.
The landlord argued that the presence of a tenant’s option to renew in two factory leases meant that the landlord and tenant had reached agreements for future tenancies for the purposes of s.28 LTA 1954 – with the result that the leases did not enjoy the protection of Part II of the Act, and the tenant’s sole route of renewal lay in exercising the options (which would have led, among others, to a new rent determined by a fixed formula rather than a market rent under s.35).
The Court rejected the landlord’s arguments and accepted on behalf of the tenants that, on their true construction, options (which may of course never be exercised) do not constitute agreements within the meaning of s.28 LTA 1954. Agreement is reached only upon their effective exercise. Suggestions to the contrary would result in a serious lacuna in the Act, by providing parties with a de facto means of contracting out of the Act without first following the s.38A procedures.
Download the judgment here.
James was instructed by Nicola Charlton and Elisha Langridge of Womble Bond Dickinson.
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