LEGAL PRINCIPLE: PROPERTY LAW – Landlord and Tenant – Lease – Validity – Commencement Date Dependent on Contingent Event – Whether Lease Void for Uncertainty
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
Where a date for the commencement of a lease is not specified but stated by reference to the happening of a contingency which is uncertain in time, until the contingency happens, there is no enforceable lease. However, the parties may validly agree that the lease shall begin upon the occurrence of an uncertain event. Such an agreement, though at first conditional, becomes absolute and enforceable as soon as the event occurs.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Obaseki, JSC (as cited with approval by Iguh, JSC) in Okechukwu v. Onuorah (2000) NLC-2481993(SC) at p. 10; Paras A–B.
"Where a date for the commencement of a lease is not specified but stated by reference to the happening of a contingency which is uncertain in time, until the contingency happens, there is no enforceable lease. However, the parties may validly agree that the lease shall begin upon the occurrence of an uncertain event. Such an agreement, though at first conditional, becomes absolute and enforceable as soon as the event occurs."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
A lease may validly commence upon the occurrence of a contingent event, not necessarily a fixed date. Before the contingency, the lease is conditional and unenforceable. Once the event occurs, the lease becomes absolute and enforceable. The contingency must be certain to occur eventually; purely speculative or illusory contingencies may render the lease void. This principle accommodates practical arrangements where parties agree to defer commencement until a specific condition is fulfilled, recognizing that conditional agreements can mature into binding obligations.