A section 21 notice (pursuant to the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988)) enables a landlord to bring an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) to an end without needing to give a reason. However, the requirements that must be met in order for a section 21 notice to be valid, as introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015 and Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 (Prescribed Requirement Regulations 2015), SI 2015/1646, are numerous, and failure to comply with them will render a section 21 notice invalid. HA 1988, s 21A (1) provides that: ‘A notice under subsection (1) or (4) of section 21 may not

Where a tenant holds over at the end of a lease, the nature of their interest in the property will depend on the parties' objective intentions, ascertained from all the circumstances. It may be that a new periodic lease has been created, or the former tenant may have some lesser interest such as a tenant as will. For example, in Dreamgate Properties v Arnot [1997] EGCS 121 (not reported by LexisNexis®), a quarter's rent had been demanded and accepted (the demand generated by computer) after the end of the

Options to break (or early resumption clauses) in tenancies of more than two years require 12 months' notice. If resumption of the whole or part is or may be required more quickly, a shorter fixed term or a periodic tenancy may be appropriate. For further information, see commentary: Letting of Two Years or Less: Scammel & Densham's Law of Agricultural Holdings [12.14]. Section 7 of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (ATA 1995) overrides or supplements the agreement between the parties where a tenancy is for a fixed term of more than two years and

A grazing licence is a licence granted over land which allows a person to enter onto land with livestock for the purpose of grazing that land. A grazing licence is usually granted for a short period of time, for example the summer period. As with any licence, the licensee is given access to the land but is not granted exclusive possession, in contrast with a lease or tenancy, where the tenant is granted exclusive possession. A licence fee is ordinarily payable by the grazing licensee. The label that parties put on a relationship

Section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995) provides that, with respect to those tenancies to which LT(C)A 1995 applies, the benefit and burden of all landlord and tenant covenants of a tenancy shall be annexed and incident to the whole, and to each and every part, of the premises demised by the tenancy and the reversion

It is unlikely to affect the assured shorthold tenancies (AST). Clearly, whether the head-lease is presently protected under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) or not, the head-lease can be brought to an end by surrender (LTA 1954, s 24(2)). This will require an express surrender (ie by deed) or a surrender by operation of law (eg tenant vacating and handing back the keys). By contrast, where the head-lease has at some point in time been protected under the LTA 1954, an agreement to surrender will be rendered void by LTA 1954, s 38 unless the requirements of LTA 1954, s 38A have been complied with (Note: where the LTA 1954

A guarantee is an agreement by way of contract where the guarantor agrees to perform the obligations of another. Guarantees are commonly seen in contracts and in leases, to the effect that if the principal does not comply with their obligations (for example to pay a loan, or in this scenario to comply with the lessee covenants under the lease of the third party), the guarantor will be liable. As a result, should the tenant default, the landlord is entitled to look to the guarantor (often to take on the lease, but otherwise

The parties to a business lease renewal are free to negotiate and agree terms for the grant of a new lease, which may include a term that any subtenancy granted be excluded from the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). In the absence of agreement, the terms will fall to be decided by the court. Where the parties cannot agree the other terms of the lease, the court will make an order as to those terms under LTA 1954, s 35 (other than duration and rent). Under LTA 1954, s 35 the court is required to have regard

A right of way acquired by prescription is not limited to the specific purposes for which it was used during the period of acquisition. As explained in Practice Note: Acquisition of easements by long use, the right is not limited to the precise ways in which it has been used, but may be used for analogous purposes or for other purposes which impose no greater burden on the servient tenement.

There is no implied right to re-enter commercial premises to carry out repairs in circumstances where the tenant is in breach of their repairing obligations. Therefore, the landlord can only use this remedy if there is an express right to gain access and undertake the repairs, often referred to as a ‘Jervis v Harris’ clause (Jervis v Harris). The express provision is likely to set out a process whereby: • the landlord must serve notice on the tenant, setting out the repairs needed and requiring that they be undertaken within a specified reasonable timescale (the timescale is sometimes dictated by the express terms of the lease) • in the

This Q&A raises the issue of the proper construction of a lease and also the application of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995). Although it is assumed that the lease is governed by the LT(C)A 1995, having been granted after it came into force on 1 January 1996, the position of older leases will be considered. Although increasingly rarely encountered in the commercial context, leases which were granted before 1996 are still frequently found in the case of residential properties. The first question is to identity the obligation on the part of the landlord under the lease, putting to one side for one moment the fact that there has been an assignment. In Rainy Sky SA v Kookmin Bank, Lord Clarke having reviewed the authorities said that

In this Q&A, the landlord has agreed to a reversionary lease for the current tenant, namely a lease that will take effect when the current existing lease has expired on 31 May 2017. The landlord has also been asked to agree to the current tenant transferring the benefit of the current lease (and, it would seem, the reversionary lease once that comes into effect) to another party (the ‘assignee’). Usually, a tenant (and their guarantor) are released from liability to the landlord when the lease is lawfully assigned to the assignee. However, the landlord can require the tenant to enter into an authorised guarantee agreement