Grove Investments Ltd v Cape Building Products Ltd

Landlord and tenant – Commercial lease – Construction. Court of Session: Allowing an appeal in a dispute as to the construction of the dilapidations provisions that applied on the termination of a commercial lease, the court held that the tenants' construction of the relevant clause was to be preferred, namely that they were not obliged to make payment to the landlords of whatever sum happened to be the total of the various cost estimates contained in a schedule of dilapidations and instead the clause was intended to reflect and reinforce the common law, under which the landlords would be entitled to the actual loss they sustained, which might be calculated using a number of different methods.