A surrender by operation of law takes place when the unequivocal conduct of both parties is inconsistent with the continuation of the lease. The grant of a new lease between the same landlord and tenant has been held to be a surrender by operation of law. This is the case even where one

Where a company registered in England and Wales is struck off the register and dissolved, its property is deemed bona vacantia, and passes to the Crown or relevant Duchy. This includes any lease of which the company was tenant. See, generally, Practice Note: Dissolution and bona vacantia property—enforcement of security. Where the property has no value to the Crown (as is likely to be the case with a commercial tenancy), the Crown will disclaim the

Misrepresentation Misrepresentation is a statement of a fact which is untrue. In order to establish a misrepresentation you must be able to point to the represented words either on the page or electronically, or point to them being said by a certain person, on a certain date. There must be an actual representation or statement. The representation must be a fact, as distinct from a statement of opinion, a statement of intention or a commendatory statement. The representation must be false. The general rule is that, in determining whether there has been an express representation, and to what effect, the court has to consider what a reasonable person would have understood from the words used in the context

For the purposes of this Q&A, we have assumed that the tenant exercised an option to renew requiring the landlord to grant a new lease on expiry of the lease. Options to renew generally A contractual option to take a lease for a further term is a ‘call’ option. It confers a unilateral right on the tenant to call for a renewal lease (often subject to conditions precedent such as all rents being paid up to date and the tenant not being in material breach of covenant). There is no obligation on the tenant to exercise their right, but if they do, the landlord is bound to perform their part of the bargain. A call option is a contract for the sale of land within section

Where a lease contains a tenant’s option to purchase the reversion, normally the contract for that sale and purchase will be set out in the lease itself. See Precedent:

A waiver of the right to forfeit a lease will arise when a landlord, with knowledge of the tenant's breach, communicates to the tenant an unequivocal recognition of the continuing existence of the lease: Matthews v Smallwood. Acts that have been held to give rise to a waiver include

The question raises the effect of a failure on the part of a tenant to commence proceedings for a new tenancy, or to agree on an extension of the notice deadline (the statutory period) in writing under section 29B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) or to agree on a new tenancy before the expiry of a notice served under LTA 1954, s 25. LTA 1954, Pt II grants security of tenure to business tenants unless its provisions are contracted out. This means that a tenancy which has protection under LTA 1954 cannot come to an end by an effluxion of time but will continue as a statutory tenancy unless brought to an end in accordance with the terms of LTA 1954

Creation of easement Easements can arise by statute, express grant, implication or prescription. See Commentary: Methods of creation: Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents [2050]. If the tenant granted the easement then it will have arisen by express grant, and prescription is unlikely therefore to be relevant. Furthermore, all types of prescription require use without permission. Where permission is given by the tenant eventhough it was in breach, Commentary: Introduction: Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents [2100] may be useful to consider. For more information regarding legal and equitable easements, registration requirements, and the extent to which they bind purchasers, see Checklist: Checklist for the creation and registration of easements. Consideration should be given to the terms of the easement

With regards to the renewal lease, where a landlord and tenant cannot reach agreement as to the terms of a renewal lease, either party can apply to the court for a determination of the terms under section 24(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). LTA 1954, ss 32–35 then set out the basis upon which the court will determine the terms of the new lease. Under

Where the subtenancies have been validly excluded from the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), those tenancies will come to an end on the contractual expiry date and the subtenants will only be entitled to remain in occupation if a new tenancy is granted. If the head tenant wishes to recover possession of these parts of the property which have been sublet, it should ensure that no rent is demanded

For the purposes of this Q&A, it has been assumed that this is a fixed-term lease and not an assured shorthold tenancy. The tenant is not entitled to be reimbursed rent paid in advance. Even if this set of circumstances could amount to a surrender of the lease, the tenant

Where a residential property is occupied, a landlord may only take steps to recover possession by issuing and serving forfeiture proceedings, rather than peaceably re-entering the property. Peaceably re-entering an occupied residential property would constitute a criminal offence pursuant to section 2 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. See Practice Note: Protection from eviction and protection from harassment. A landlord cannot forfeit a long residential lease for non-payment of rent, unless they have first sent the tenant a notice requiring payment of the outstanding rent. The notice must be in the prescribed