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[2011] EWCA Civ 1708, Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Longmore and Lord Justice McFarlane, 10 November 2011

Arbitration - Error of law - Application for permission to appeal - Whether award obviously wrong - Whether just and proper to give permission to appeal - Procedure for hearing appeals - Arbitration Act 1996, section 69

This dispute arose out of a rent review clause in a lease. The arbitrator ruled that for the purposes of valuation it had to be assumed that the premises complied with requirements in relation to fire precautions so that the lack of a fire escape was irrelevant for rental valuation purposes. Permission to appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 was sought from Morgan J on paper, and Morgan J directed that both the application and the appeal itself should be heard orally by another judge. Warren J, at the oral hearing, held that he would not have come to the same conclusion as the arbitrator, but that did not make the award obviously wrong. He thus refused permission to appeal against the award, but he nevertheless granted permission to the appeal to the Court of Appeal.