Summary

Liability of intermediate assignees where original tenant is sued by landlord on covenant for rent

Facts

Tenant T assigned a lease of premises to B who then assigned it to C who then assigned it to D who was now insolvent. On the landlord suing T for rent under the covenant in the lease, Under s.24(1)(b)Land Registration Act 1925 the covenant to pay the rent & for each assigned to indemnify his predecessor was implied so that T was entitled to sue B and B to sue C & so on. However B, being a Maxwell co. like D was also insolvent so T sought an order from the court that B sue C under the implied covenant since C was solvent.

Held

Unfortunately s.24(1)(b) did not go beyond creating a positive obligation to pay the rent for the rest of the term. It did not create any obligation to see that the rent was paid. T could not compel B to sue C or to recover the rent from C or compel it to assign to T the benefit of the right to sue C. No order for specific performance could be made. Application dismissed.