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Recently, the High Court (the Court) delivered two decisions of relevance to commercial landlords and tenants in Ireland. The decisions centred on:
Commercial leases, summary judgment for rent arrears and COVID-19 fallout
In BVK Elektra 2 Liffey Phase 1 ICAV v Elite Gastrobars Limited & Anor [2025] IEHC 420, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell delivered judgment on 23 July 2025 in respect of a summary judgment application for rent arrears and other charges. The plaintiff (BVK), the landlord of Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, brought summary proceedings seeking judgment in the sum of €276,041.44 against its tenant (the Tenant), who operated a restaurant unit in the shopping centre and had been in arrears for a number of years. The Tenant applied for the proceedings to be adjourned to plenary hearing.
The parties and the Court agreed on the applicable principles and criteria for determining a matter on summary judgment. To proceed to summary judgment the Court had to address the established question of whether the Tenant had a bona fide defence, or “whether it was “very clear” that the Tenant had no case”. The Court addressed a number of issues which the Tenant claimed gave it a bona fide defence, thereby disentitling BVK from obtaining summary judgment against it:
Insurance and business interruption clauses: The Tenant argued that in accordance with the lease:
Ultimately, the Court was satisfied that the Tenant had not reached the threshold of establishing a reasonable probability of having a bona fide defence and granted judgment for the full amount claimed in favour of BVK.
The importance of ensuring defined terms in a lease
In Point Village Development Limited v Dunnes Store Unlimited Company [2025] IEHC 212, Mr Justice Sanfey delivered judgment on 10 April 2025 in the ongoing dispute between the plaintiff (the Landlord) and its anchor tenant (Dunnes) at the Point Village Centre (the Centre).
The Landlord sought declarations that Dunnes was in contempt of previous High Court orders (the Orders) requiring Dunnes to submit fit out plans to the Landlord and complete works on the anchor unit at the Centre pursuant to a development agreement dated 27 February 2008 (the Development Agreement).
Whilst Dunnes had delivered fit out plans, the Landlord argued that these plans did not satisfactorily comply with the Orders, which required Dunnes “to procure the execution and completion of the Fit Out Works of the Anchor Unit (as defined in the Development Agreement)” and therefore, the non-compliance was an act of contempt by Dunnes.
However, Dunnes submitted that the Orders made were so ambiguous that it could not be guilty of contempt. The Landlord agreed that if the Court found that the Orders were truly ambiguous, Dunnes could not be guilty of contempt.
In respect of the ambiguity of the Orders, the Court noted a number of factors:
In respect of the definition of “anchor unit”, the Court noted that in the absence of a contractual provision imposing an obligation on Dunnes to fit out 100% of its leased premises for trade, there remained a lack of clarity as to the execution of fit out works for an “anchor unit”. The Court must be absolutely clear on what compliance with an order would be in order to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that a breach of the order had occurred. This test was not met by the Landlord in the absence of unequivocal contractual definitions, or judicial interpretation, of the relevant terms.
On that basis, the Landlord’s application was dismissed.
Key takeaways
Both decisions of the High Court emphasise the importance for commercial landlords and tenants to ensure that terms in lease documents are properly defined and unambiguous.
As demonstrated by Point Village, ambiguous drafting of defined terms caused difficulties for the landlord in enforcing High Court orders against its anchor tenants in respect of the fit out works required to the leased premises. In particular, when parties intend to impose specific obligations on an anchor tenant in respect of the leased premises, drafters should take care to ensure that the lease is sufficiently detailed and clear so that all parties, and if necessary a court, can understand what exactly is required of them under lease documents.
On the other hand, the BVK Elektra decision demonstrates that the High Court is willing to enforce the clear terms of commercial leases so as to enable a landlord to successfully pursue summary judgment against a tenant for arrears of rent.
For further information, please contact Tom Casey, Partner, Hannah Shaw, Senior Associate, Rachel Kemp, Senior Knowledge Lawyer, Amie Creaton, Solicitor, or your usual ALG Disputes & Investigations team contact.
Date published: 4 September 2025