The Court of Appeal has affirmed the High Court finding that an agreement between a local council and the claimant company for the erection and maintenance of advertising hoardings constituted a licence and not a lease.

The court expressed some surprise that a substantial and reputable commercial organisation, with access to legal advice, should attempt to argue that an agreement constituted a lease when the parties had both given the document the label of licence and had expressly stated in the document that it was intended to be a licence and not a lease. There was nothing in the circumstances surrounding the arrangement to suggest that, applying the Street v Mountford principles, the agreement should be treated as a lease.

For details of the High Court decision, see Legal update, Advertising hoardings : lease or licence? (High Court).