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Upper Tribunal Hands Down Appeal Decision in APW v EE and H3G LC-2026-000202

The Upper Tribunal (UT) has handed down its decision in APW v EE & H3G, known as “Equipoint”.

In Equipoint, the operator held over after the expiry of a lease contracted out of Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The question for the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) was (1) whether the operator was a tenant at will or a periodic tenant; (2) if a periodic tenant, was it still able to access Part 4 of the Code; and (3) whether the notices served were invalid as they did not contain the required ADR information that had been introduced by the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 (PSTIA). The FTT found for the operator on both counts.

In the UT, it was determined that:

1. As the FTT had directed itself correctly as a matter of law, the challenge to its finding that there was a tenancy at will was a challenge to a factual evaluation. The UT set out the principles dealing with such a challenge, and decided that it was not permitted to revisit the FTT’s evaluation. This part of the UT decision is a useful reminder of the constraints upon an appellate Court when facing such a challenge. The UT therefore upheld the finding of a tenancy at will.
2. The UT stated that if the tenancy had been periodic, then the operator would not have had access to Part 4 of the Code, as it enjoyed the 1954 Act’s security of tenure provisions (save for a direct right of renewal), and confirmed that such operators had to rely on those rights which they did have.
3. The UTP found that a notice that complied with the PSTIA law was not invalidated by the subsequent requirement that further notices needed additional prescribed information about ADR.

Wayne Clark KC and Fern Schofield acted for the Appellant, instructed by Daniel Cuthbert and Ella Carroll at Freeths LLP. Oliver Radley-Gardner and James Andrews-Tipler acted for the Respondents, instructed by Rachel Templeman at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP. 

Click on the file below to access the judgment. 

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