Another airfield under threat
 

Heard a roumour that Leicester (EGBG) is facing a real and genuine threat of closure.
It appears that as the land is owned by the local CO-OP, they are planning on evicting Leicestershire Aero Club, and selling the land for residential development.
This will lead to the closure of one of the best airfields in the country.
The more airfields we lose in the country, severely restricts available landing opyions in the event of an emergency. :ugh:

Has anyone else heard this roumour?

Can anyone shed any light onto this?

I am a member at Leicester and I think this is very unlikely. The club extended its lease quite recently.

Rod1

That is what I thought as well. As I have been associated with Leicester for over 20 years. However I have been informed that the CO-OP are wanting to ignore our recent lease, and go ahead with the sale. I can only hope that with the recent halt in the property market, that this will now be shelved.

Let us all hope that those rumours are untrue

They might of course sell with a sitting tenant to an investment company with a view to that company selling it off in the future - quick buck now for Co-op, big but slow bucks in the future for the investment company.

It stinks, of course, but it happens.

Tim

Lawyer's hat on: a landlord cannot "ignore" a lease. They can sell subject to it; they can try and oppose the right which the club would have to renew a lease by arguing that they want to redevelop the site, but ignore it they can't.

As ever, the Devil will be in the detail:suspect:

Does the phrase "Break Clause" ring any bells? Best check the small print in the lease. If the saavy CO-OP lawyers drafted the new lease with a view to future development potential. They may have inserted a break clause in the lease that determines it on grant of, lets say for argument, outline planning permission for residential housing.:ugh:

Also worth considering what the value of the Leicester Aero Club is and then weigh that against the proceed of the sale of the land. Subtract the value of the aircraft as they can move. As a business including goodwill it might not be as much a you might expect.

One immediate action to thwart plans could be to get anything old on the aerodrome "listed" as Barton and Shoreham did. That does not extend to old codgers sat in the clubhouse on a Tuesday lunchtime though.

Best of luck. It is a site worth fighting to save.

Sir George Cayley

Not sure where this latest rumour came from but nobody else seems to know about it. The club did recently extend the lease and again nothing was mentioned. I do recall the housing thing being brought up last year but the council denied planning permission

Also Leicester Aero Club is not a business it is a cub owned by us the members with a council of management elected by the members. It is not a flying school masquerading as a flying club.

Same as the LAC at Barton then. And look what happened there.

But if the opp was turned down then p'raps the CO-OP won't get a divvy this time.

Sir George Cayley

Maybe a 'good' laywer's hat on: Every new owner that takes over a land with current lease can kick out the club who has the lease and or give them a term to move out, or pay an amount. The amount to be payed to a local club is absolutely peanuts to what a big development land mostly at a good residential location is worth when it's developped. The club owners will say it's a shame, but most of it will grab the money and thank god that they finally made some bucks instead of loosing them.

Please note that i'm totally against project development on airplane fields!! i hate it!!! go live somewere else!!

Absolute c*ap. How long have you practiced Landlord and tenant law, sternone?:ugh:

Anyone who buys property takes it subject to any existing lease.

Most "clubs" will have sufficient commercial aspects to them to qualify as businesses under the 1954 Act. That Act gives a business tenant the right to renew a tenancy and provides a limited number of grounds on which a Landlord can refuse a new lease or gain possession of the land. The Act requires a minimum of six months' notice to be given to the tenant.

Although redevelopment is a ground for refusing a new lease, the landlord has to go alot further than simply trot out the word. He has to show definite well advanced plans, including usually the grant of planning permission.

Yes, but to exercise a break clause a Landlord still has to comply with the Act and rely on the same grounds. Most break clauses are triggered after a number of years into a tenancy rather than by an event like planning permission. For a tenant, such a clause would mean a lease would have little attraction for them. Plus, it would be impossible for the landlord to insist on a break clause in a renewal unless there was one already in the existing lease which was to be renewed.

The only exception here is if the provisions of the Act have been excluded by agreement before the lease commenced.

Well you answered it yourself in the above sentence, who cares about 6 month notice compared to the price gain ?

About your remark " How long have you practiced Landlord and tenant law," my answer is simply this: have you already realised you have choosen one of the worse jobs you can have in a life ? no ? well, you will sooner or later. I must admid that indeed about this case, UK could be different than my country, my country's law is based on the ius commune with Justinianus, yours didn't used the code napoleon and is based on the jurisprudence...

Sternone:

You seem to be building something of a reputation for spouting off on subjects you appear to know little about.

Under English law, not only is a minimum of six months notice required but the landlord can only get possession on a limited number of grounds, which are set out in the Act. When you serve the notice you have to specify the ground for possession and you cannot then go back and add in other grounds later. Hence a club like Leicester, assuming its lease is not excluded from the Act, has a good deal of protection and at the end of the lease it is entitled to ask the court to grant a new lease, even if the landlord opposes it.

Yes, the English system is based on the common law, which is presumably what you were grasping for when you tailed off. However, the rules governing business tenancies are statutory and owe nothing to the common law.

As understand it, personal attacks are another of your personality traits:yuk:

As it happens, after 25 years in the job I haven't yet realised it is the worst job in the world. It actually pays for alot of flying in some nice aeroplanes.:E

Oh, that was just a reaction about your quote to me, you are stating that i don't know anything about law according to your measurments:

As i tried to say before in the post, i said that in my law it's not needed to give an extra reason, but since there is a different in euro law and uk law i can understand that you are correct. i did not attack you personally, you attacked me personally, and while i'm on it, if you call your nice aeroplanes G-IPKA for sale at £49,000, PA-28 and others, no problem, they are nice planes, but you have to admid that if you visit some descent fair there are bloody nicer planes that you can't to seem to afford with your dream job

Sternone:

Now you really are getting personal. Some of us know the true identities of many on this forum, but we should not publish personal information about PPRuNers without their consent, so as to draw attention to their identities. You know nothing about me other than what you have evidently trawled from the internet, so don't presume.

Yes, i agree with you, but it is information you have posted yourself, and there is nothing wrong with that information, isn't it ?

Anyways, i don't wan't to get into any war again, so you are right, i am wrong, you are smart, i am dum, you are rich, i am poor, you are good looking, i am ugly, you have nice wifes, mine's are old and ugly, you have nicer cars, i drive old crap, your planes fly faster, mines are slower, you win, i lose.

Cheers.

Wow thats a spat worthy of me........ :p

Words out of my mouth BoseX

Hmmm handbags at 10 paces I feel:p

It's a shame that it's all ended so amicably, I was just beginning to enjoy it!

We can go again if you really want us to :E