Forfeiture of a lease

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FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance regarding the Act’s impact on residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters' Rights Act 2025—key provisions.

Right to forfeit

A right to forfeit gives the landlord an option to end the lease in certain circumstances. The right to forfeit must either:

  1. •

    be provided for as an express term of the lease; for example, the lease may provide, in a re-entry or forfeiture clause, that the landlord is entitled to forfeit the lease due to specified breaches of covenant (for example, failure to pay rent within 14 or 21 days of the due date) or on the occurrence of a specific event detailed in the lease (for example any type of insolvency specified as an event giving rise to the right to forfeiture), or

  2. •

    (if there is no express provision in the lease) have arisen due to a breach by the tenant of an express or implied condition (forfeiture for breach of condition), ie a term of the lease which is so fundamental to that lease that breach

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