In answering this Q&A, we have considered whether there are any steps that a tenant can take if they have served an invalid notice seeking to extend their lease. If a tenant seeks to exercise their right to extend their lease, they are required to serve a notice on the landlord pursuant to section 42 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993). The following key information must be contained within the tenant’s notice pursuant to LRHUDA 1993, s 42(3): • the full name of the tenant and the address of the flat in

Disclaimer is the process by which liquidators and trustees in bankruptcy can disclaim onerous property. Leasehold property is a form of onerous property and is commonly disclaimed. Disclaimer is effected by the liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy authenticating and dating a notice of disclaimer. It is an obligation of the trustee in bankruptcy to deliver a copy of the notice of disclaimer within seven business days after the date of the notice to anyone claiming an interest in the property (among others).

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 enables a landlord to serve a notice requiring possession of premises which are let under an assured shorthold tenancy. Once the notice has expired, the landlord can issue possession proceedings. There are, however, certain circumstances in which a section 21 notice cannot be served. One such circumstance is set out in section 33(1) of the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015), which prohibits a landlord from serving a section 21 notice within six months of a ‘relevant notice’ being served (or, where a ‘relevant notice’ has been suspended, within six months of the suspension ending). DA 2015, s 33(13) defines a ‘relevant notice’ as: • a notice served under section 11 of the Housing Act 2004 (improvement notices relating

A tenancy at will may be determined at any time by the landlord (or tenant). No particular period, or form, of notice to determine must be given and clearly the tenancy will end on the date given by the terminating party (whether immediate or in the future). After that date, the tenant has no legal right to be present on the premises; the landlord has the right of possession. Accordingly, if the former tenant remains in occupation, this is a trespass. Note that care should be taken not to accept money from such a former tenant so as to avoid the risk of creating a new tenancy (see Practice Notes: Leases and licences of land—key features and differences and Periodic

Where a tenant has taken a tenancy on an assured or an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) as defined by the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), when the fixed term comes to an end a statutory periodic tenancy will automatically arise—see HA 1988, s 5, which provides that an assured tenancy (AT) cannot be brought to and end without a possession order, and in particular HA 1988, s 5(2), which makes provision for the periodic tenancy. By HA 1988, s 19A, an AT entered into after the commencement of section 96 of the Housing Act 1996 (28 February 1997) is an AST. HA

The answer to this question is likely to turn on whether the landlord could be said to have waived the section 21 notice by later serving the section 13 notice, or has become estopped from relying on it. This would depend on all the circumstances but, in the absence of any special factors, it appears unlikely. That is because seeking to increase the rent is not inconsistent with also seeking possession. Given that it may take several

Nature of residential tenancy Residential tenancies may fall within one of a number of different statutory regimes providing security of tenure (for example, assured tenancies (AT) and assured shorthold tenancies (AST) under the Housing Act 1988), or if not they will be common law tenancies, which will come to an end on termination of the fixed or periodic term rather than continuing under a statutory continuation tenancy. Residential common law tenancy Residential common law tenancies are tenancies that do not fall within any of the statutory security of tenure regimes. The requirements for termination of a common law tenancy and recovering possession differ, depending upon whether the common law tenancy is: • fixed term: upon expiry of that term the tenant's right to possession ceases and the landlord becomes entitled to possession. No notice to quit is required and it would be inappropriate

Notices to quit a tenancy within the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 (AHA 1986) are heavily regulated. They must comply with the common law, any requirements in the tenancy, and with AHA 1986. Generally, the tenant is given the right to serve a counter-notice requiring the landlord to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England (or the Agricultural Land Tribunal in Wales) for consent to the operation of the notice. However, that right does not apply in certain special ‘cases’ (AHA 1986,

Right of first refusal and conveyance not preceded by contract This response deals with the question of the procedure to be adopted where a landlord wishes to dispose of premises to a third party buyer after the expiry of an offer notice served under section 5D of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) to qualifying tenants of flats which have not been accepted. Some long leaseholders qualify for a right of first refusal of their freehold under LTA 1987. The seller is obliged to serve an offer notice to the leaseholders before selling the freehold to a third party buyer. More than one offer

This question raises the need of a landlord of residential premises to consult with tenants prior to carrying out certain types of work and collecting the cost of doing so through a service charge. The requirement is contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LTA 1985) and the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003 (the Regulations), SI 2003/1987. For these purposes, a service charge is an amount payable by a tenant directly or indirectly for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements or insurance or the landlord’s costs of management, which varies according to the costs incurred by the landlord. Where work is to be carried out by a landlord, the liability of the tenant to contribute through the service charge provision to the costs is limited to £250 unless

The answer will depend on whether the tenant knew of the defect when they agreed to extend the deadline for issuing proceedings. If the tenant knew of the defect, but then agreed to extend the deadline, then there would be a good argument that the agreement amounted to a waiver of the defect. However, if the tenant did not know (or could not reasonably have known) of the defect in the section 25 notice, then they were not in a position to waive the defect and hence the extension would not then waive the defect. A party may also be saved from the effect of an invalid notice if the recipient has waived the invalidity or has done something to create an

This Q&A assumes that you are referring to a notice to be served pursuant to section 5A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) LTA 1987, s 5A(4) provides that ‘The notice must specify a period within which that offer may be so accepted, being a period of not less than two months which is to begin with the date of service of the notice’. LTA 1987, s 5A(5) provides that ‘The notice must specify a further period of not less than two months within which a person or persons may be nominated by the tenants under section 6’. LTA 1987, s 6(3) provides that: ‘An “acceptance notice” means a notice served on the landlord by the requisite majority