The form of the statutory declaration prescribed by the Regulatory Reform (Business Tenancies) (England and Wales) Order 2003, SI 2003/3096, Sch 2 includes the following optional statement

In respect of all tenancy agreements entered into on or after 1 February 2016, private landlords are obliged under section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 to check, prior to granting a tenancy, whether or not prospective tenants or occupiers are allowed to occupy the property by virtue of qualifying immigration status. Landlords must also ensure that the tenant’s right to occupy does not lapse during the term

Surrender In these circumstances it is likely that a surrender by operation of law will have occurred. A surrender by operation of law occurs when the unequivocal conduct of both parties is inconsistent with the continuation of the tenancy. This is demonstrated by the delivery of possession by the tenant and acceptance by the landlord. The landlord must have the intention to accept the surrender. When a surrender by operation of law is accepted, the tenancy

A series of legislative changes has progressively tightened the regime relating to deposit protection. After 2012, a landlord had 30 days to protect the deposit and provide the relevant prescribed information to the tenant. A failure to comply with these obligations penalises the landlord in two ways. A landlord seeking to obtain possession of the property is debarred from relying upon the section 21 procedure (section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988)) allowing the giving of two months’ notice without reason in order to obtain possession of the property (section 215 of the Housing Act

Does the subtenant need to remain in occupation until the contractual expiry date? Grounds 30(1)(f) (demolition) and (g) (landlord occupation) under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) both give rise to statutory compensation under LTA 1954, s 37. In the Chancery Division case of Sight & Sound Education Ltd v Books etc Ltd, where a landlord served a section 25 notice bringing the tenancy to an end five months after the contractual expiry date, and the tenant then vacated shortly before the contractual expiry, and therefore at that stage lost the protection of LTA 1954, the court held that the tenant’s

Can the tenant claim its costs from the landlord? There is no general statutory entitlement for the tenant to claim its costs from the landlord. It would be necessary to review the terms of the lease to see if there is any entitlement for the tenant to claim its costs in this situation. It would be unusual for there to be any such entitlement under the terms of a lease. It is not clear in this Q&A whether the inspection was solely undertaken by the tenant to ascertain whether or not there had been a breach, or whether it was undertaken by the landlord and the

For the purpose of this Q&A it has been assumed that: • the property is in England • the tenancy is not a contractual periodic tenancy and the notice was served under section 21(1)(b) A notice requiring possession of a property let under an assured shorthold tenancy may be served under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, provided various pre-conditions, and the requirements for the notice itself, are met. For information on termination

This issue raised in this Q&A is the effect of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) ceasing to apply to a tenancy after a section 25 or 26 notice has been served and an application made for a new lease. By LTA 1954, s 24 a tenancy to which the Act applies will not come to an end unless terminated by an approved method, and either party may apply to court for a new tenancy to be granted. By LTA 1954, s 64,

Statutory compensation under section 30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) sets out the grounds on which a landlord can oppose the granting of a new tenancy to the tenant who occupies the premises demised for the purposes of a business carried out by them. The fact that a business tenancy to which LTA 1954 applies has expired by effluxion of time does not in fact bring that tenancy to an end. It continues until determined by the service of a section 25 notice by the landlord, a section 26 request for a new tenancy or section 27 notice by the tenant. If the landlord chooses to serve a section 25 notice and wishes to oppose the grant of a new tenancy, the landlord must set out in the notice the ground or grounds on which it is opposed. One of those grounds is ground (f), ie that on the termination

It is a somewhat underappreciated aspect to possession proceedings under CPR 55 that claims under that part do not have to be confined to possession. CPR PD 55A para 1.7 reads: ‘1.7 A claim which is not a possession claim may be brought under the procedure set out in Section I of Part 55 if it is started in the same claim form as a possession claim which, by virtue of rule 55.2(1) must be brought in accordance with that Section. (Rule 7.3 provides that a claimant may use a single claim form to start all claims which can be conveniently disposed of in the same proceedings).’ This

Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) provides a procedure for a landlord to terminate an assured shorthold tenancy. The grounds for obtaining possession are contained within HA 1988, Sch 2. This scenario considers ground 1 of the HA 1988 which provides as follows: Not later than the beginning of the tenancy the landlord gave notice in writing to the tenant that possession might be recovered on this ground or the court is of the opinion that it is just and equitable to dispense with the requirement of notice and (in either case)— • at some time before the beginning of the tenancy, the landlord who is seeking possession or, in the case of joint landlords seeking possession, at least

For the purpose of this Q&A we have assumed that the property is registered and the sale is either of the freehold or a long leasehold interest. There does not seem to be anything in the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) to prevent a purchaser from bringing possession proceedings against the tenant notwithstanding the fact that the previous owner served the section 8 notice. HA 1988, s 8 requires the landlord to have given the section 8 notice