As reported in a recent Briefing Note, the Court of Appeal gave judgment earlier this year in an important case for landlords and administrators called Re Game Station. The case is about rent payable by tenant companies in administration. The Court of Appeal’s decision is a return to the “pay as you go” approach that was law before the much talked about Goldacre case, which is no longer good law. The Court of Appeal’s ruling means that where an administrator makes use of leasehold property for the purposes of the administration, the rent under the lease is payable as an expense of the administration for the period of the administrator’s use of the premises. The rent is to be treated as accruing from day to day. This applies whether the rent under the lease is payable in arrears or in advance and it does not matter whether the quarter’s rent is payable before, during or after the period of the administrator’s use of the property.
For further information regarding this decision please see the article Rent in Administration proceedings: the Court of Appeal decision in Re Game Station by Richard Baines, Partner and Head of Turnaround Restructuring & Insolvency which appeared in the June issue of The In House Lawyer.