Royal Court judgement on rent and service charge accrued during Covid closure

In Waterfront (LC) Limited v Cine UK Limited 11-Oct-2022 the owner of the Cineworld premises applied for summary judgment against its tenant Cine-UK Limited (represented by Adv. Mathew Cook – Mourant) for unpaid rent and service charge.

Cine-UK Limited argued that it should not be required to pay rent or service charge whilst the cinema had to be closed due to the Covid 19 Pandemic or when its ability to operate was restricted by States of Jersey regulations or orders issued by the Minister for Health. After an in-depth analysis of the lease terms, the Royal Court granted the summary judgement application, and confirmed that the landlord had a priority right over the tenant’s movable property at the premises (droit de gage) limited to 1 years rent.

This judgment was followed by Waterfront (LC) Limited v Cine-UK Ltd 31-Oct-2022 when the Royal Court found that the droit de gage did not extend to service charge or insurance contributions; it was not asked to decide whether the droit de gage could extend to rent for a period in excess of a year.