Business Tenancies in Northern Ireland

Commercial leases are an important element of the property market in Northern Ireland. The preservation of business goodwill and security of tenure are of major concern both to those who operate businesses on or from leasehold premises and to their financial backers. The Business Tenancies Act (NI) 1964 reflects that concern, but preserves landlords' powers to recover possession of premises in some circumstances, for example, to facilitate the redevelopment of their property or in the event of serious breaches of covenant by tenants.;This book explores the balance created between landlord and tenant under the 1964 Act, and examines its provisions in detail. Among the topics considered are: the application and scope of the Act and contracting out of the statutory provisions; the automatic continuation of tenancies pending renewal, and the consequences of continuation for guarantors and for an original tenant who has assigned his lease; the statutory procedures for termination of business tenancies and applications for renewal; the grounds on which landlords may oppose renewal and how those grounds may be established; the powers of the Lands Tribunal to renew tenancies or to award compensation for disturbance; and compensation for improvements.;The book should be of interest to legal practitioners and other professionals involved in the property sector. It is not intended as a supplement to the existing range of books on the equivalent English legislation, but deals with all aspects of the 1964 Act and Lands Tribunal practice in relation to business tenancies. This first edition also highlights areas where reform of the business tenancies code may be expected as a result of the efforts of the Law Reform Advisory Committee for Nothern Ireland, whose final report on business tenancies is to be published in the summer of 1994.