372 = 106 
English Land Law. 
If landlord's 
ownership is 
limited. 
" Letting 
value " of 
holding mnst 
be increased by 
tenant's im- 
proTements. 
Questions as 
to tenant's 
oatlaj. 
land for the repayment of so many of the twenty or other les 
number of instalments as still remain due. 
If the landlord has not this disposing power over the land— 
if, for instance, as in the ordinary case of settled estates, h 
holds them merely for life — then the tenant's claim to compen 
sation is further limited by the principle of " letting value. 
The compensation is then not to exceed " a capital sum fairl 
representing the addition which the improvement, as far as 
continues unexhausted at the determination of the tenancy, the 
makes to the letting value of the holding" (§ 7). This ne 
principle introduces an additional element of uncertainty ini 
the measure of compensation. The cost price of an improv 
ment is easily ascertained, and the assignment of the number 
years for exhaustion may not be difficult. But there is mo 
room for difference of opinion and for dispute upon the quest! 
whether the improvement has added to the letting value of 
farm, not when such improvement was originally made, but 
its state of greater or less exhaustion at the end of the tenanc 
In dealing with a limited owner, therefore, tenants have not t 
same security for unexhausted improvements as they possess 
dealing with an absolute owner. In the latter case, the tenr 
receives back the capital he spends, either in money or 
kind, — in kind so long as his holding lasts ; in money wh 
the holding is determined, if the improvement is found to 
unexhausted when the claim arises. In dealing with a limi 
owner, he still receives back, during the tenancy, what 
land or occupation yields to him in kind for the improvenif 
he has made ; but at the end of the tenancy, instead of receiv 
back the amount of his outlay, less a proportionate part for < 
year up to the period of exhaustion, he must prove that 
letting value of the holding is increased by fhis partici r 
improvement : his compensation in money depends upon f 
additional rental which the improvement will yield in the - 
maining years (within each maximum period fixed by i 
Act) during which it will be deemed to continue unexhaus 1. 
The extent to which the improvement adds to the letl g 
value of the holding is to be decided, in case of dispute J- 
tween the parties, by the referees or umpire, for whose appot- 
ment provision is made in the part of the Act relating 
procedure. 
As the tenant is entitled to payment from the absolute ot ci 
of " the sum laid out" on the improvement, less a proportio tt 
part for each year during the period of exhaustion, it loi n 
that, when the claim arises, the landlord can raise no ques)» 
upon the economy or extravagance of the particular outlav. It 
may be that a tenant has spent more money than he nceu > 
