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GLOSSARY

Break clause definition

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

What does Break clause mean?

A term in a lease that permits the lease to be brought to an end.

A lease will often take effect for a fixed term. A break clause may be included in the lease so as to allow the landlord or the tenant or both to bring the lease to an end early.

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Green Deal considerations in property transactions—checklist

Green Deal considerations in property transactions—checklist The Green Deal The Green Deal is a scheme, originally designed by the government, now backed by private investors, that enables landlords and tenants to make energy efficiency improvements to residential and commercial property funded through a ‘pay-as-you-save’ approach. Green Deal providers arrange low-cost finance for the improvements without having to pay any up-front costs. Instead, the costs of making the energy saving improvements are added to the energy bills at the property and paid off in instalments by the energy bill payer in line with the Green Deal Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is that the expected financial savings resulting from the energy efficiency measures must be equal to or greater than the costs attached to the energy bill. The burden of the repayments remains with the property, and therefore transfers to the new owner/occupier when a building is sold/let. The Green Deal is also complemented by the Energy Company Obligation, which replaced the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and the Community Energy Saving...

Charity land acquisition and disposal—checklist

Charity land acquisition and disposal—checklist Before and during the acquisition and disposal of land, trustees have a number of matters they should consider. Before acquisition • consider the purpose of the acquisition, eg is it functional, investment or for purposes • whether the trustees are agreed that the acquisition is necessary to further the aims of the charity and it is the interests of the charity to do so • ensure there is power in the governing instrument to acquire the land, and if not, on what basis can they legally justify the purchase • determine if the transaction needs to be financed and, if so, how • decide if the property is to be acquired in the names of the trustees or, perhaps, vested in the Official Custodian • consider the VAT status—where the seller/landlord has opted to tax or made a real estate election or the property id under three years old, an acquisition may not make sense unless: ◦ the supply will be zero-rated because the property...

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How to exercise a tenant break option

How to exercise a tenant break option This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide on exercising a tenant break option in a lease. It includes the relevant lease provisions to consider, when a break can be exercised, the form and service of a break notice and other pre-conditions which may need to be complied with to determine the lease. It also includes steps to be taken after serving the notice. For detailed guidance on break notices, see Practice Notes: Break clauses and notices—exercising breaks and conditions precedent and Break clauses and notices—service. The break clause A break clause (or option) allows a tenant or landlord (or in some cases both parties) to bring a lease to an end early, before the contractual expiry date. The break clause will set out the following details: • which party can exercise the break option • when the lease can be determined (the break date) • the period of notice which must be given • any pre-conditions (in addition to service of a...

Landlord's consent to assign or underlet

Landlord's consent to assign or underlet Form of covenant The tenant’s ability to assign or underlet will depend on the form of covenant in the lease. It is important to analyse the covenant correctly, to decide whether it restricts assignment or underletting and, if so, to what extent. No covenant This is rare in modern leases, but some long residential leases may not impose any restriction on assignment or underletting beyond giving notice to the landlord. In the absence of any restriction, the tenant is free to assign or underlet as it pleases. Absolute covenant A covenant that prohibits any assignment or underletting entirely is often described as an absolute covenant. There is no statutory modification of absolute covenants, so they constitute a complete bar. However, the covenant should still be analysed, to determine precisely what is prohibited. If there is an absolute covenant, the landlord has complete discretion about whether to grant consent and, if so, on what terms. The landlord should be aware, however, that granting licence to...

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Style clause—landlord break option to terminate lease—Scotland

PSG Style Leases-conditional Landlord break 1 Definition of Break Date Break Date means [any date falling after [specify the date or dates] OR the day before any Rent Day after that date OR any [fifth] anniversary of that date] as specified in the Landlord’s Notice given under Clause 2.1 (New PSG Lease Clause 7.1); 2 Break clause—PSG Style Leases—clause 7 2.1 [New PSG Lease...

Landlord’s redevelopment break option clause—lease

Landlord’s redevelopment break option clause—lease [Definitions warning: This Precedent clause uses the following defined terms: 'Annual Rent’, ‘Insurance Rent’, ‘Property’, ‘Rents’, ‘Service Charge’ and ‘VAT’. These are all defined terms in the Lexis+® UK Precedent leases (see, eg, Precedent: Lease of part (office)). When using this Precedent clause, these defined terms should be adapted or amended as appropriate to reflect the defined terms in the relevant lease.] 1 Landlord's right to break for redevelopment 1.1 The Landlord may terminate this Lease with effect from any date [after [date]] by giving not less than [six] months’ [written] notice (a Break Notice) specifying the intended termination date (the Break Date) to the Tenant if the Landlord requires [all or part of] the Property or the means of access to it:

Dive into our 11 Precedents related to Break clause

Do I have time to serve an effective break notice, what form should it take and what is the method of service?

Do I have time to serve an effective break notice, what form should it take and what is the method of service? Scenario A client has just called to tell me that after some last minute management meetings, they would like to give notice urgently to end the lease of their HQ. The break clause states the following: ‘If the Tenant wishes to determine this Lease on the fifth anniversary of commencement of the Term and gives to the Landlord at least 6 months' prior written notice of that wish, then on expiry of the notice the Term is to cease and determine immediately, but without prejudice to any rights or remedies that may have accrued’ The Term commenced on 1 March 2009. It’s 2.30pm on Friday, 30 August 2013. Can I still serve notice effectively and what should I put in my notice? Timing • Determine what is the fifth anniversary of the Term. If the Term commenced ‘on’ (rather than ‘from’ 1 March 2009),...

Can a tenant retract a notice to quit previously served to exercise a break clause in an assured shorthold tenancy before expiry of the notice?

Can a tenant retract a notice to quit previously served to exercise a break clause in an assured shorthold tenancy before expiry of the notice? Whether a notice to quit can be retracted There is various authority for the position that a notice to quit, once it has been served, cannot be retracted. However, a notice can be withdrawn or the right to enforce it waived with the consent of the party to whom the notice is given. In Clarke v Grant, the Court of Appeal held that a notice to quit cannot be waived by, for example, the landlord continuing to accept rent payments from the tenant. In this respect, the parties were held to be in a different position compared to when, for example, a landlord waives a breach of covenant. Giving judgment, Lord Goddard CJ stated: ‘It has always been held that, if a landlord seeks to recover possession of property on the ground of a breach of covenant which entitles him to claim a forfeiture,...

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Dealing with the impact of tariffs on your supply chain

Commercial analysis: Tariffs have come into the international spotlight in 2025, with the US imposing unprecedented tariffs on imports and other countries, including Canada, China and the EU, imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US in response. These measures have impacted global markets and introduced economic and geopolitical uncertainty. In this article, Peter McCormack and James Lindop, both partners at Eversheds Sutherland, look at the purpose of tariffs, their impact on commercial contracts and supply chains and, from an English law perspective, the measures that businesses may take to deal with this impact.

UK Competition law—daily round-up (10/01/2023)

A round-up of UK competition law developments, including (amongst other things) the CMA accepting commitments to address abuse of dominance concerns regarding the supply of school management information systems.

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