A lease does not, as a general rule, terminate upon the death of the tenant. Section 1 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925) provides that real estate to which a deceased person was entitled at the time of their death and which does not cease on their death devolves upon their personal representatives (PRs). AEA 1925, s 1(2) provides that the PRs are deemed to be the assigns of the deceased. This will not ordinarily, however, amount to a breach of a covenant against assignment of the lease, as the assignment is deemed by operation of law. ‘Real estate’ is defined in AEA 1925, s

You have asked: The tenant under a business lease has security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). When the lease was granted, the landlord intended to exclude the LTA 1954 protection provisions but failed to serve the relevant notices. The tenant is pursuing a claim for a new lease. The landlord's leasehold title only permits a sublease on excluded terms and the landlord argues that they can only grant a new excluded lease. Does the tenant have the right to a new secure lease? New leases under the Landlord

A lease is a contract between landlord and tenant. Therefore, subject to various statutory requirements, the parties are free to negotiate the terms upon which they are prepared to enter into such relationship. A lease will ordinarily make clear that the demise is let with the benefit of easements or other rights that are attached to and benefit the land, to ensure that the tenant is able to exercise such rights.

Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) provides statutory protection to business tenants, meaning that a protected lease does not expire by effluxion of time but continues unless the landlord serves notice pursuant to LTA 1954, s 25, stating whether or not the landlord opposes the grant of a new tenancy under one of the specified grounds in LTA 1954, s 30(1). By LTA 1954, s 26 the tenant is entitled to request a new tenancy to be granted and again the landlord can only oppose that application on one of the specified grounds. By

It is relatively common, particularly in the case of flats, terraced houses or flying freeholds for rights to be granted and reserved in regard to the enjoyment of support from existing buildings (so as to distinguish from the right of natural support which at common law is enjoyed from land alone). It is also common for those rights to be expressed in terms which use the composite

A long lease of residential premises will invariably contain service charge provisions requiring the tenant to make contributions to costs incurred by the landlord in running and maintaining the building. These provisions are governed by the terms of the lease but are subject to statutory supervision. In particular, where the landlord proposes to carry out major works, the cost of which will exceed the sum of £250 in respect of any one leaseholder, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 imposes on the landlord an obligation to consult with the tenants and to obtain observations from the tenants, who are entitled to nominate a contractor from whom the landlord must

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002) entitles a right to manage company (RTM company) to exercise the management functions ordinarily vested in the landlord (or a management agency) in respect of residential property. An RTM company is a company limited by guarantee and whose membership is restricted to qualifying tenants of the relevant building. The structure of CLRA 2002, s 98 is firstly, to vest in the RTM company the functions in relation to the grant of approvals to a tenant that would otherwise be the functions

This Q&A raises the extent of the right of first refusal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) of residential tenants where their landlord seeks to make a disposal of an interest in the block in which their demised premises are situated. The right is enjoyed by qualifying tenants as defined by LTA 1987, s 3. Essentially, they are those tenants who are not assured tenants under the Housing Act 1988 or who have the protection of Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Generally, the right of first refusal exists as against the qualifying tenant’s immediate landlord, but where that person is also a tenant under a lease for a term shorter than seven years, the right exists

Section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002 provides that where a disposition of a registered estate is required to be completed by registration, the disposition is not operative at law until the relevant registration requirements are met. Therefore during the period between transfer (whether by assignment or otherwise) and registration (known as the registration gap) the legal title remains with the transferor, with the transferee having only an equitable interest in the relevant property. The registration gap can give rise to a number of difficulties that arise out of the entitlement of the transferee prior to registration to receive or give notices. In

Commercial leases Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) applies to business tenancies, defined in LTA 1954, s 23 as ‘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, Pt II contains provisions which give considerable security of tenure to business tenants. In essence, LTA 1954, s 24 provides that a tenancy which falls within LTA 1954, Pt II cannot come to an end unless it is terminated in accordance with the provisions of LTA 1954, Pt II. Moreover LTA

This Practice Note analyses the term or duty of mutual trust and confidence (in a fiduciary sense) implied or imposed into every contract of employment. It considers the mutual or two-way duty of trust and confidence, which requires employer and employee not to conduct themselves, without reasonable and proper cause, in a manner calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the employment relationship. It considers breach of the term as grounds for constructive dismissal, the Johnson exclusion of damages, breach by the employee justifying summary dismissal, the relationship with express terms, whether breach is always repudiatory, intention, reasonable and proper cause and breach by the employer where the employee is already in repudiatory breach. The nature of the term or duty Every contract of employment is treated as containing a term of trust and confidence. This requires employers and employees not to conduct themselves, without reasonable and proper cause, in a manner calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of confidence and trust between employer and employee. The term can affect every

If there is no obligation to reinstate the demised premises, a lawful alteration becomes part of the premises and the tenant cannot be made to reinstate. See Practice Note: Tenant’s reinstatement under the heading ‘Renewals’. Accordingly, to ensure that there is still an obligation to reinstate alterations undertaken during both of the previous leases, the new yielding up covenant should expressly refer to all alterations undertaken during the term of both the two previous leases and the new lease, including specific reference to any licences to alter. However, the tenant may oppose the reinstatement covenant in the new lease being extended