LEASE OF OFFICE SUITE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17889, 17 September 1921, Page 8

LEASE OF OFFICE SUITE.

DISPUTE OVER AGREEMENT.

ORDER FOR PERFORMANCE. An order for the specific performance of an alleged verbal agreement it,.- the lease of the top floor of Qleeson'a Buildings, High Street, was sought by Francis Kneebone, warehouseman, and John David Jones, builder {Messrs. McYeagh and Hogg), against Frederick Calvi Freeman, metaphysician (Mr. 1 Hall Skelton), before Mr. Justice Adams in the Supreme Court yesterday. Plaintiffs contended ? that a verbal agreement existed, dated May 4, 1921, for the lease of the floor to defendant for five years at a rental of £5 10s a week. Plaintiffs- relied on certain acta of part performance, comprising the erection of partitions subdividing the floor into a number of rooms. Plaintiffs stated that they had lost £171 in making the alterations, and claimed the recovery of this sum, together with £100 general damages. The defence was a general denial, together with an affirmative defence submitting that the alleged agreement was not a completed undertaking, and did not conform to the Statute of Frauds. Plaintiffs took a risk m commencing alterations in view of such a partial transaction. His Honor held that the agreement was sufficiently binding for the purposes of the law, because defendant had inspected the premises while alterations were in progress, and had given slight instructions for the work. The law aid nob say what amount or quality of instructions would make a person liable, but he . was satisfied that in this case the quality of the instructions brought them within the equitable doctrine of part performance. An order for specific performance was < made out against defendant, the terms i of the lease to be settled by the Court. ' Judgment was given for defendant on the claims for specific and general damages. Costs were allowed plaintiffs on the lower scale.