Court of Justice of the European Communities 15 December 1993. In June 1990 L surrendered the residue of a lease on office premises to its landlord for a monetary consideration. The Commissioners assessed L for VAT on the basis that under Value Added Tax Act 1983 item 1a of Group 1 of Schedule 6, while the letting and assignment of a lease of immovable property were in principle exempt transactions, the surrender of a lease to the immediate landlord was excluded from exemption. L appealed to a VAT Tribunal on the grounds that this was contrary to article 13B of EC Directive 77/388. The tribunal referred the matter to the Court of Justice to consider two points: whether the surrender of the lease of immovable property for a consideration paid by the landlord to the tenant was a supply within the term `letting of immovable property` exempt under article 13 and if so whether this article which allowed member states to apply further exclusions to the scope of the exemption for the letting