Areas of law involved

The areas of law involved in this case are terms, breach of contract and remedies.

Terms are promises and undertakings from one party to another party in a contract and specify how contractual obligations are to be performed.

A breach of contract happens when a party fails to perform any of the obligations stated in the contract. An actual breach arises when performance is supposed to be performed but the party fails to perform it.

Remedies that are available are damages and the equitable remedies of specific performance, injunction and quantum meruit.

The relevant case law is Paradine v Jane (1647). In this case, the defendant had failed to pay rents for the lands that were leased from the plaintiff. The defendant said that the reason why he failed to pay the rent was because the land was invaded by the enemy of the King, his cattle was driven away and he was expelled from the land so he could not enjoy the benefits of the land. The court held that when a contract is signed, the parties are bound to perform obligations in the contract, notwithstanding any accident and the defendant had to pay the due rent to the plaintiff.

Application of the law to the facts reported

Straits Colonies signed the five-year lease agreement with SMRT Alpha even though URA did not approve the premises to be "Pub cum F&B" and continued with fitting works and started Straits Express Restaurant & Bar in December 2014. SMRT Alpha increased the rent on 12th February 2014 and Straits Colonies began to fall behind in rent payments. Straits Colonies was given a dateline of 30th September 2014 to come out with a settlement plan but they vacated the premises instead and did not inform SMRT Alpha.

This is similar to the case law Paradine v Jane (1647). In our current case, the defendant also failed to pay the rent and vacated the premises on the date that they were supposed to submit the settlement plan to the plaintiff.

Question: Can you suggest what we need to put above?