Corway v Smith

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 24 March 1931
• Date: 24 March 1931
• Court: Supreme Court (Irish Free State)

[H. C., S. C., I.F.S.]

Corway

and

Smith

"Good and sufficient cause"for terminating or refusing to grant a renewal of the tenancy - Offer of a new tenancy at an increased rent - Town Tenants (Ir.) Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 54), s. 5.

The tenant of premises, which he held at the yearly rent of £85, and in which he resided and carried on a grocery and provision business, claimed from his landlord compensation for disturbance under s. 5 of the Town Tenants (Ir.) Act, 1906. The tenant's business was the only means of livelihood of himself and his family. He estimated his net profit income at £300 a year. His landlord was a chemist's assistant, but had registered himself as a medical student with the intention of taking up the medical profession. In order to provide himself and his family with the necessary means of living during the transition period of his studies, the landlord decided to open a chemist's shop of his own, and with that intention he had purchased the said premises subject to the said tenancy a short time before the tenancy was due to expire He made an offer to the tenant of a new letting at a rent of £250 a year, but admitted in cross-examination that he did not want it accepted because he wanted the place for himself. The tenant refused the offer, and the landlord brought ejectment proceedings. Upon the hearing of the tenant's application for compensation, the tenant gave evidence that he could not get any other premises in the neighbourhood where he could carry on the same business, and that...