Landlords and managing agents of industrial estates, retail parks, shopping centres, office blocks and other multi-let complexes have been known to assume they are free to manage them in what they perceive to be the interests of good estate management, as long as they act in good faith. When considering an action, they often focus not on whether they are to do what they propose, but rather on whether the cost of doing it can be recovered through the service charge.
This focus risks overlooking the possibility that the action could have such a prejudicial effect on one or more tenants that it represents a breach of the landlord’s covenant for quiet enjoyment and/or a derogation from the grant, exposing the landlord to a claim for substantial damages. In an extreme case, a tenant could even be driven to insolvency.
