Marks & Spencer loses case in the Court of Appeal

British department store group Marks & Spencer have lost a break lease case

in the Court of Appeal that would have seen the group recover 1.1 million pounds in rent and other charges.

The Court of Appeal decided to overrule a previous High Court ruling which dictated that a term should be involved in leases, which would allowed M&S to recover rent paid at former office in Paddington after a break date.

The department store group previously served break notices in July, 2011 to terminate leases on the break date of 24 January, 2012. However the group them paid the quarterly rent in December, 2011 a month before the leases were up. M&S argued it was due to receive a refund of 1.1 million pounds for the rent paid between January 24, 2012 to March 24, 2012, the end of the first quarter.

Last September the High Court ruled that a term should be part of the contracts. However the landlord of the office, BNP Paribas Services Trust Company, appealed against the ruling and on Wednesday the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the landlord.

An M&S spokesperson told Retail Gazette that the group was “considering our options”.