The right to manage (RTM) allows some leasehold property owners to take over management of the building, even without the agreement of the landlord, provided certain criteria are met. The leaseholders will be responsible for collecting and managing the service charge. See Practice Note: The right to manage. The first step for a tenant who thinks that their landlord has failed to carry out works for which they are responsible should be to check the lease and the service charge agreement. The tenant can then ascertain precisely what work the landlord is supposed to carry out pursuant to any express terms, and also who any problems should be reported to. The service charge provisions should specify whether the charge is recoverable in advance or

Leaseholders of flats (though not houses) can acquire from the landlord, the right to manage the property by way of a transfer of those rights and obligations to a company limited by guarantee set up by them, pursuant to the provisions of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002). The consent of the landlord is not required—rather, formal service of the relevant notice will lead to the transfer of those powers. The landlord becomes entitled upon the transfer to become a member of the company. There are various qualification requirements and formalities that must be observed, which fall outwith

Pursuant to section 106A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), planning obligations can only be modified or discharged by agreement between the applicant and the local planning authority (LPA) or following an application to the LPA five years after the obligation has been entered into. A Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) cannot be used to justify a breach of a legal agreement. For more information on modifying or discharging planning obligations, see Practice Note: Renegotiating planning obligations/section 106 agreements. If, for any reason,

It is ordinarily the case that the termination of a superior tenancy ends a subtenancy, though a lawful assured tenancy (including an assured shorthold tenancy) is not so terminated, the subtenant instead becoming the direct tenant of the superior landlord: section 18 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988). That section does not appear to apply in these circumstances as any subletting is prohibited under the tenancy. Where a tenant leaves a property permanently, it is not necessary to obtain a possession order if it is clear that the tenancy has been surrendered by abandonment. Surrender is a question of fact, and

The version of section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) in force on 19 June 2020 provided that the court can order possession of a dwelling house if satisfied that three months’ notice in writing had been given to the tenant. That is because paragraph 7 of Schedule 29 to the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA 2020) substitutes into HA 1988, s 21 the words ‘three months’ in place of the usual ‘two months’. The prescribed form of section 21 notice is set

The changes brought about by the Deregulation Act 2015 Section 21A of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) was inserted by section 38 of the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015). It applies to all tenancies granted after 1 October 2015. HA 1988, s 21A requires landlords to comply with ‘prescribed requirements’ in order to validly serve a notice under HA 1988, s 21. These ‘prescribed requirements’ are defined in the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 (Prescribed Requirements Regs 2015), SI 2015/1646. The new HA 1988, s 21A provides: ‘…(1) A notice under subsection (1) or (4) of section 21 may not be given in relation to an assured shorthold tenancy

This Q&A considers how long a notice seeking possession served under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) lasts and when it is deemed to have expired. HA 1988, s 8(1) provides, materially, as follows: ‘The court shall not entertain proceedings for possession of a dwelling-house let on an assured tenancy unless— (a) the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them has served on the tenant a notice in accordance with this section and the proceedings are begun within the time limits stated in the notice

In Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Assurance Co Ltd , a break clause was exercised but giving the last date as the date before the true date on which the break was exercisable. The House of Lords held that the construction of the notices had to be approached objectively, and the question was how a reasonable recipient would have understood them, bearing in mind their context; that the purpose of the notices was to inform the landlord of the tenant's decision to determine the leases in accordance with the break clauses; that a reasonable recipient with knowledge of the terms of the leases and

Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) provides for security of tenure for business tenancies which are not opted out of its provisions. In practice, this means that a tenancy does not come to an end at its expiration date by effluxion of time but continues on a statutory tenancy. Either the landlord or the tenant can apply to the court for the grant of a new tenancy. By virtue of LTA 1954, s 25 the landlord can give notice to the tenant to terminate the

Where a business tenant makes a request for a new tenancy under section 26 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), the landlord has two months from the service of the request in which to give a counter-notice indicating their intention to oppose the new lease (LTA 1954, s 26(6)). See, generally, Practice Note: LTA 1954 business lease renewal—termination. This question raises the issue of whether service of the counter-notice on solicitors for the tenant, rather than the tenant

A tenant with security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) is entitled (subject to the landlord’s rights of opposition) to seek a new lease of the ‘holding’. The ‘holding’ is defined at LTA 1954, s 23(3) to mean ‘the property comprised in the tenancy, there being excluded any part thereof which is occupied neither by the tenant nor by a person employed by the tenant and so employed for the purposes of a business by reason of which the tenancy is one

Service of a section 26 request A business tenant may request a new tenancy by service of a notice pursuant to section 26 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), where the tenancy is granted for a term of years exceeding one year, or granted for a term of years certain and thereafter from year-to-year. The notice must be served by the tenant or all joint tenants. Service of the request must be made in accordance with section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (LTA 1927) (see LTA 1954, s 66(4)). LTA 1927, s 23(2) provides that: ‘Unless or until a tenant of a holding shall have received notice that the person theretofore entitled to the rents and profits of the holding (hereinafter referred to as “the original landlord”) has ceased to be so entitled, and also notice of the name and address of