A time of the essence clause does not apply to a contractual obligation that does not specify a date or time for performance. Where a special condition in a sale of land contract requires the seller's solicitors to prepare a deed but specifies no time for preparation, delay in preparation is of secondary importance and does not entitle the buyer to terminate, particularly where the buyer could have prepared the deed itself and the benefit sought by the deed passed by operation of law. The evident purpose of a deed of covenant mechanism requiring a buyer to covenant with a third party to be bound by an existing licence is to enable the seller to discharge its own obligations to the third party, not to confer a benefit on the buyer.
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