Lease Termination Notice Must Be in Specified Form, Rules Court

When a tenant failed to include precisely the right wording for exercising its right to break its lease, the court ruled that use of the exact words specified was not necessary and therefore disallowed the landlord’s claim that the break notice was invalid.



The landlord appealed to the Court of Appeal, which reversed the decision, holding that since the lease said that the notice ‘must’ be given in a specific form, giving the notice in another form rendered it invalid.



The case, which has now racked up very substantial legal fees, illustrates the importance of paying attention to the precise terms of a lease. Had the notice been given by the tenant in the specified form in the first place, there would have been no argument.