The economic downturn has led to a surge in landlord and tenants disputes, court figures have shown.

Figures obtained by legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell indicated that the number of legal disputes between commercial property landlords and tenants reaching the High Court in London jumped 43% in 2009, to 40 disputes, up from 28 in 2008.

All cases were above the £25,000 value threshold.

Sweet & Maxwell said the rise in cases had been fuelled by the economic downturn, with companies attempting to slash their property overheads by shedding excess office and retail space, or by subletting space, which may lead to an action being brought by the landlord.