The answer to this will depend on whether the withholding of consent by the landlord is considered to be reasonable under the section 19(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (LTA 1927) and each case will turn on its own facts. This section provides that whenever a lease contains a covenant condition or agreement against assigning, underletting, charging or parting with the possession of the demised premises, or any part of them, without licence or consent, that covenant condition or agreement is deemed to be subject to a proviso to the effect that licence or consent is not to be unreasonably withheld. The reasonableness of a refusal is judged by the circumstances

The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) creates nine protected characteristics in respect of which it imposes restrictions upon the manner in which they can be dealt with. They are age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. There is no definition of age or age group. The notion of age is broad enough to encompass, for example, those above a certain age, those between two ages or those in a particular decade of their life. In respect of each characteristic, EqA 2010 places restrictions upon both direct and indirect discrimination. The concept of indirect discrimination does not apply to each of the protected characteristics, but does apply

For the purposes of this Q&A, it is assumed that an energy performance certificate (EPC) was not provided by the landlord before the tenancy was granted, the tenancy was granted on or after 1 October 2015 and the building is a listed building or is in a conservation area. By section 21A of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), a landlord may not give a section 21 notice in relation to an assured shorthold tenancy of a dwelling-house

A landlord can oppose the grant of a new lease under ground (e) in section 30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 if: • the current tenancy (T) was created by the sub-letting of part only of the property comprised in a superior tenancy (ST), and • the landlord (L) owns an interest in reversion to tenancy ST • the aggregate of the rents reasonably obtainable on separate lettings of (a) the

It is the landlord, rather than a mortgagee, which is entitled to serve notice under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988). See Commentary:  Notice of proceedings for possession; in general: Halsbury's Laws of England [923]. The landlord can rely on HA 1988, Sch 2, Pt I, ground 2 for possession where: • the mortgagee is entitled to exercise a power of sale—under section 103 of the Law of Property Act 1925 the statutory power of sale becomes exercisable in various scenarios including where there has been a breach of the term

Release on assignment If a landlord requires the tenant to enter into an authorised guarantee agreement (AGA), the tenant will remain liable under the guarantee until the assignee is lawfully released from the tenant covenants in the lease (section 16(4) of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995)). See Practice Note: Lease covenants—liability after assignment of a lease or its reversion. Holding over Aside from that, for protected tenancies only, whether the liability of the tenant will extend to any period of holding over after expiry of the contractual term and to any interim rent awarded by the court depends on whether the definition of the ‘term’ includes

The Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 provides that any lease granted on or after 1 January 1996 creates what is defined as a ‘new tenancy’ (with certain exceptions). A lease granted before 1 January 1996 is classed as an ‘old tenancy’. The assignee is liable for those tenant covenants that touch and concern the land for as long as the lease remains vested in the assignee (privity of estate). Its liability does not appear to extend to breaches which took place prior to the assignment, ie the assignee’s liability extends to breaches of covenants which touch and concern the landlord while the lease is vested in them.

Section 30(1)(g) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) provides that a landlord may oppose the grant of a new tenancy as ‘…the landlord intends to occupy the holding for the purposes, or partly for the purposes, of a business carried on by him therein, or as his residence’. The landlord need not show that it intends to make physical use of the whole of the premises comprised in the holding. In Method Development v Jones, it was confirmed that it is sufficient for the purposes of ground (g) for the

An alienation clause is a provision within a lease that governs the ability of the tenant to assign the lease and/or to sublet the premises to which the tenancy pertains. Such a covenant enables the landlord to retain control of the premises insofar as the identity of the tenant or occupier is concerned and protects the landlord against, for example, an assignment to a new tenant who may not be able to meet the tenant obligations such as in respect of rent and repairs. A lease may contain an absolute prohibition on alienation, or may allow the tenant to assign or sub-let subject to the consent of

A repair notice is a notice sent by a landlord to a tenant (or, where the obligation to repair is that of the landlord, vice versa) requiring the tenant to carry out works of repair. The notice will relate to an obligation contained in the lease, and the terms of the lease should specify the nature and extent of the tenant’s obligation to repair. The obligation to repair may be a continuing obligation; or it may require the carrying out of certain works of repair or renewal at specified dates; or may require the tenant to yield up the premises in a good state of repair at the end of the term; or may be a combination of these or other provisions. The

A landlord can serve a section 17 notice on any number of parties where there are several former tenants and former guarantors. However, a landlord is unable to recover more than the amount of the arrears being claimed, so would only be able to accept payment of the

It is possible, and quite common, to serve a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) before the expiry of the fixed term of an assured shorthold tenancy (AST). By HA 1988, s 21(4B),