Landlords have had a rough ride over the past couple of years, with an increased number of tenant defaults, and a retail sector which has sought to renegotiate lease terms and in some cases sought to cram down creditors' rights (in particular landlords' rights) using the statutory compromise procedure: a company voluntary arrangement ("CVA"). On 23 July 2010, in the case of Mourant & Co Trustees Limited and others v Sixty UK Limited and others [2010] EWHC 1890 (Ch), the balance between landlords and tenants was redressed. In this case whilst it was recognised that a CVA was, in principle, a legitimate way of compromising a landlord's rights under a guarantee in respect of an insolvent tenant's liabilities, the terms of the CVA were found to be unfairly prejudicial to the landlord. Having been found to be unfair, the CVA, which had been approved by the majority of creditors, was revoked. The decision also contains a robust criticism of the administrators' actions in pressing ahead with the CVA and a rare referral to their supervisory body.

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