Section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) provides as follows: ‘Subject to the provisions of this Act, this Part of this Act applies to any tenancy where the property comprised in the tenancy is or includes premises which are occupied by the tenant and are so occupied for the purposes of a business carried on by him or for those and other purposes.’ LTA 1954, s 24 provides: ‘(1) A tenancy to which this Part of this Act applies shall not come to an end unless terminated in accordance with the provisions

Refusing the grant of a new lease As explained in Practice Note: Grounds of opposition: ground (a)—breach of repairing obligation, a landlord can oppose the grant of a new lease under section 30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 by specifying ground of opposition (a): 'Where under the current tenancy the tenant has any obligations in respect of repair and maintenance of the holding, that the tenant ought not be granted a new tenancy in view of the state of repair of the holding, being a state resulting from the tenant’s failure to comply with he said obligation.' The breach must be considered as at the date of the actual hearing. The state of the repair must be a result of

Pursuant to the provisions of the Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003), Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is charged in respect of land transactions. A land transaction is defined in FA 2003, s 43 as the acquisition of a chargeable interest. For the purposes of FA 2003, a leasehold estate is a chargeable interest. For more detail, see Practice Note: Land transactions, chargeable interests and chargeable transactions. The surrender of a lease is an acquisition of a chargeable interest by the landlord (FA 2003, s 43(3)(b)) and the grant of a lease is an acquisition of a chargeable interest by the tenant. For more details, see Practice Note: SDLT—common lease transactions. FA 2003, Sch 17A, para 16 provides that where a lease is granted in

This Q&A assumes that it is proposed that the outgoing tenant (ie the assignor), rather than the assignee, will give the rent deposit. The Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995) makes provision for liability of tenants and their guarantors post-assignment. LT(C)A 1995, s 5(2)(a) provides that if: 'a tenant assigns the whole of the premises demised to him...he is released from the tenant covenants of the tenancy...as from the assignment'. LT(C)A 1995, s 16 provides for, as a concession to landlords, the concept of an 'authorised guarantee agreement' (AGA) by which, in certain circumstances, a tenant can guarantee the obligations

An implied surrender and re-grant taking effect by operation of law can occur if an agreed variation of the terms of a lease is so fundamental that the law regards it as being wholly inconsistent with the original lease. The original lease is deemed to have been surrendered and a new lease is deemed to have been granted between the parties on the terms of the lease as varied. An increase in the length of the term of the original lease is a variation which takes effect as an implied surrender and re-grant. It should be noted that obiter statements in Dreams v

Rent The deadline for the landlord or tenant to make an application to the court for the grant of a new business tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), or for the termination of the current tenancy without grant of a new tenancy (if the landlord is opposing the grant of a new tenancy), is the date specified in the landlord's section 25 notice or the date immediately before the date specified in the tenant's section 26 request (the ‘statutory

As a preliminary point, this Q&A states the company will be entering administration either before or after contracts for the sublease are exchanged. However, once a company has entered administration, the directors in effect lose control of the company to the administrator who may or may not decide to enter into the sublease. It is unlikely that the company (acting through its administrators) would grant the sublease in administration; this will depend on what the administrator intends to do with the business and assets of the company. We also note that it is an unusual step for a company to take to grant a sublease prior to entering administration. We do not have the full circumstances

The grant by the landlord of a new lease to the tenant amounts to a surrender by operation of law. This is because the landlord would have no power to grant the new lease unless the old lease had been surrendered, so the parties’ conduct in entering into the new lease is unequivocal evidence that the old lease has been surrendered. Provided the contracting-out procedure is followed in respect of the new excluded lease, the tenant will lose the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) protection once the new lease is granted. LTA 1954, s 28 says that

A breach of a covenant in a lease is either capable of remedy or not, depending on its nature. Some breaches are seen as continuing breaches and others are once and for all breaches. Commentary suggests that a covenant that requires an act to be performed by a particular date or within a reasonable period of time or where the covenant prohibits one or more matters and the particular breach cannot fairly be described as an activity will be a once

A new lease will take effect as a surrender of the old lease by operation of law. There is nothing in Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) that prevents a surrender by operation of law. LTA 1954, s 38 does not prevent a

In this Q&A it has been assumed that the: • landlord’s warning notice was properly served • tenant’s statutory declaration was properly sworn (not merely signed) • lease is not, and is not required to be, registered Validity of the lease Under section 52 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925) all conveyances of land or of any interest therein are void for the purpose of conveying or creating a legal estate unless made by deed. There are a number of exceptions in that section, including a lease for a term of less than three years. See Commentary: Leases which are not effective to create a legal

A tenancy at will is a precarious right to occupy land. It can arise by implication where the parties have not expressly agreed that there should be a grant of some other form of tenancy. Where parties are negotiating the terms of a proposed lease, and the prospective tenant is let into possession or permitted to remain in possession in advance of, and in anticipation of, terms being agreed, the fact that the parties have not yet agreed terms will be a factor to be taken into account in ascertaining their intention. It will often be a weighty factor. The parties cannot sensibly be taken to have agreed that the tenant shall have a periodic tenancy, with all the consequences flowing from that, at a time when they are