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Law of Property Act 2000
139Power of Court to protect under-lessee on forfeiture of
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139 Power of Court to protect under-lessee on forfeiture of
superior leases
(1) If a lessor commences proceedings:
(a) to enforce a right of re-entry or forfeiture under a covenant,
obligation or term in a lease made before or after the
commencement of this Act; or
(b) for non-payment of rent,
the Court may, on application by a person claiming as under-lessee
of an interest or a part of an interest in the property held under the
lease, make an order:
(c) staying the lessor's or other proceedings on the terms the
Court thinks just; and
(d) vesting, for the whole term of the lease or a lesser term, the
property held under the lease or an interest or part of an
interest in the property in a person entitled as under-lessee to
an interest in the property.
Law of Property Act 2000 94
(2) The Court may make an order vesting property under
subsection (1)(d) on the conditions as to execution of a deed or
other document, giving security, payment of proper and reasonable
rent, costs, expenses, damages, compensation or otherwise as the
Court, having regard to the circumstances of each case including
the consent or otherwise of the lessor to the creation of the interest
claimed by the under-lessee, thinks just.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to entitle an under-lessee to require
a lease to be granted to the under-lessee for a larger area of land
or for a longer term than the under-lessee had under the original
under-lease.
(4) An order referred to in subsection (1) may be made in proceedings
brought by a person claiming as under-lessee or, if the lessor has
commenced proceedings in the Court, in those proceedings.