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Why should you buy Break Clauses

This comprehensive guide explains everything that a property practitioner needs to know in respect of break clauses including:

• Comparisons between break clauses and other methods of terminating leases 
• How to interpret break clauses and break notices 
• How break clauses relate to other clauses within the lease, e.g. rent review clauses 
• The effect of exercising a break notice on the respective obligations of landlords / tenants / sub-tenants 
• The consequences of there being conditions precedent attached to the exercise of a break clause 
• The formalities and the possible registration requirements of break clauses 
• The procedure for the service of a break notice and the consequences of failing to comply with that procedure 
• The interrelationship between break clauses and the security of tenure procedures under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 
• Issues of professional liability in the context of break clauses 
• Redevelopment break clauses 
• Guidance on break clauses in residential and agricultural tenancies

This new edition has been comprehensively updated and expanded to include coverage of:

• Latest important decisions such as M&S v BNP Paribas [2015], Siemens v Friends Life (CA) [2014], Avocet [2012], PCE Investors [2012], Gemini Press [2012], Fitzhugh v Fitzhugh [2012], HFI Farnbrough v Park Garage [2012], Canonical v TST Millbank [2012], and Quirkco v Asprey [2012] 
• Further analysis of debate and opinion on topical issues such as the recoverability of 'overpaid' rent following the termination of a lease 
• Extended selection of precedents

Foreword

It is striking, and to the uninitiated it may be surprising, that an apparently relatively niche topic such as break clauses in leases can provide enough in the way of legal problems and issues to justify a book running to over 300 pages and over 500 reported cases. Many non-lawyers may wonder whether this is a tribute to the ingenuity of lawyers or the ineptitude of those involved in drafting and operating the clauses. However, as any reader of this excellent book will quickly realise, break clauses have thrown up many practical and legal problems, which fully justify the full and careful treatment which this book gives the topic.

Preface

It is a commonplace with a textbook that the progeny is larger than the forebear. This book is an extreme example of that tendency. Although there have been a large number of cases concerned with aspects of break clauses in the last few years, the blame for the growth lies on the shoulders of the authors, not the judges. Further thoughts, plus readers’ suggestions, have added topics, and even some new chapters. Really, the book has undergone a substantial re-write.

Case-law since the first edition has tended to emphasise the importance of strict compliance with the conditions in a break clause, and the content of the break notice. The many cases dealing with the former are discussed in Chapters 9 and 10. Prominent amongst the cases emphasising the importance of the careful drafting of a break notice is the Court of Appeal decision in Siemens Hearing Instruments Ltd v Friends Life Ltd [2014] 2 P&CR 5.