We acted for a firm of consultants which was the tenant of two units in an office building which were used to store information for its clients. The building was sold and the new owner wanted to convert the vacant units in the building into residential accommodation and add an additional floor.
The works would have caused disruption to our client over a long period and breached various terms in its lease. At a time when the landlord knew that many of our client’s employees would be on holiday, it sent its contractors to the building to commence the reconstruction works. The landlord did not give notice of its intention to commence the works and this omission constituted a further breach of the terms of the lease.
After being instructed, we immediately wrote to the landlord’s solicitors to request an undertaking from its client to refrain from entering our client’s premises without giving notice but no undertaking was given. In the absence of any cooperation from the landlord, our client was left with no choice but to obtain an emergency injunction in the High Court to prevent further unauthorised access.
Following the landlord’s refusal to give an undertaking we had to work extremely hard to draft and file an application for an injunction which was heard on the same day as it was filed. The application was successful and the landlord was prevented from gaining access to the building other than during normal office hours after giving the period of notice required by the lease. The court set another hearing date to decide if the injunction should remain in place but the landlord agreed not to enter the premises without giving due notice and so this court hearing was not needed.