Section 267 — Property Law Act 2007: Effect of unlawful eviction on lessee’s obligations

267 Effect of unlawful eviction on lessee’s obligations (1) This section applies to a lessee under a lease who, contrary to the express or implied terms of the lease, is evicted from the whole or any part of the premises comprised in the lease. (2) A lessee to whom this section applies,— (a) if evicted from the whole of those premises, is not required to do the following in respect of the period of eviction: (i) pay the rent or any other amounts payable under the lease; and (ii) perform any other covenant of the lessee; and (b) if evicted from part of the premises, is not required to do the following in respect of the period of eviction: (i) pay the rent and any other amounts payable under the lease for the whole of those premises (which are reduced in the proportion that the value to the lessee of the part of those premises from which the lessee has been evicted bears to the value to the lessee of the whole of those premises); and (ii) observe or perform any other covenants of the lessee, so far as they relate to the part of those premises from which the lessee has been evicted. (3) For the purposes of this section, a lessee who, contrary to the express or implied terms of the lease, is, on the commencement of the term of the lease, unable to obtain possession of the whole or any part of those premises must be taken as having been evicted from the whole, or that part, of those premises, as the case may be. (4) If, under this section, a lessee is wholly or partly released from the obligation to pay the rent or other amounts payable under the lease, or to observe or perform any other covenant of the lessee, any other person who is directly or contingently liable for that payment, observance, or performance is released to the same extent. (5) This section does not limit the right of a lessee to whom this section applies to— (a) cancel the lease in accordance with any right— (i) expressed or implied in the lease; or (ii) provided for in the Contractual Remedies Act 1979 ; and (b) claim damages for breach of the lease. (6) Any assessment of damages under a claim referred to in subsection (5)(b) must take into account the value of any release, in whole or in part, from the obligation to— (a) pay the rent or other amounts payable under the lease; or (b) observe or perform any other covenant on the part of the lessee.