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LPC Law Notes Property Law and Practice Notes

Lease Landlord's Remedies For Tenant Breaches Notes

Updated Lease Landlord's Remedies For Tenant Breaches Notes

Property Law and Practice Notes

Property Law and Practice

Approximately 490 pages

A collection of the best LPC PLP notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor".

In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of PLP notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is fully updated for recent exams, a...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Property Law and Practice Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

Effluxion of Time

P.327

  • Where a fixed term lease automatically comes to an end

  • No notice is required

Notice to Quit

P.328

  • Periodic tenancies are determined by an appropriate period of notice

  • It can be given by either the LL or the T

  • Notice periods are strictly enforced and courts will not grant relief:

    • Yearly tenancies: at least 6 months’ notice

    • Other tenancies: one full period’s notice

  • If a dwelling house, notice given 4 weeks before effect, in writing and with certain information (s.5 Protection from Eviction Act 1977)

Surrender

P.328

  • Where T yields up his lease to immediate LL who accepts the surrender

  • It must be by deed to be legal (s.52 LPA) and must be mutual

Merger

P.328

  • Where T acquired the immediate reversion of a lease (i.e. the freehold)

  • Or where a 3rd P acquired both the lease and the reversion

But, if the lease falls within the remit of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, then it may be protected from determination under security of tenure. This means the tenant can continue in their tenancy until it is terminated in such a way that is satisfactory under the Act. This does not apply to T@W.

LL’s Remedies: T’s Non-Payment of Rent

Important questions before applying any of these remedies:

  1. Find the clauses in the Lease that have been breached (usually all the rent clauses)

  2. Calculate for how long the T has not paid rent

  3. Calculate the amount of rent owed to the LL + interests (interest accrue usually 14 days after unpaid rent)

  4. Does the LL have AGA’s with previous T’s? Are there any Guarantors?

Debt Action against Tenant or Former Tenant / guarantors

P.329

Liability of former T’s P.327

  • Apply to court to recover the debt from the Tenant:

  • If suing a former Tenant (such as under an AGA), or a guarantor then LL must unders.17 LTCA ’95 (this section of the act applies to ALL leases (new and old)):

1. serve a Default Notice on the former tenant (Default Notice on P.327);

2. within 6 months of the rent falling due.

Otherwise the LL will not be able to recover from the former T or Guarantor. The LL doesn’t need to start proceedings, the LL is just serving notice of the breach

  • Must sue within 6 years of the rent falling due (s.19 LA ’80)

Advantages:

- Plenty of time to bring the action against T

- A debt action is more easily enforceable

Disadvantages:

- High costs of litigation

- but remember that summary judgment may make things easier.

Forfeiture of the Lease

P.329

If rent is payable quarterly then the year’s quarter dates are:

25 March;

24 June;

29 Sept;

25 December

  • An article for forfeiture is usually contained within the terms of the lease “e.g. any rent reserved by this lease is outstanding for twenty one days after becoming payable (whether formally demanded or not)..”

  • This right must be expressly reserved by the lessor in clause within the lease.

  • Right to take possession and prematurely determine the lease

  • Enforced by either:

    1. A court order (which is obligatory if it’s a dwelling house – s.2 PEA)

    2. Peaceable re-entry (criminal sanctions for using violence – s.6 CLA ‘77)

  • T may apply to court for release for forfeiture whereupon the court will have the discretion to allow the lease to continue, but usually only under the condition that T pays all the arrears and costs. Court order may be required to apply Forfeiture in residential lettings.

  • The LL’s right to forfeit may be waived by carrying out any act demonstrating an intention to continue the relationship of LL & T (e.g. demanding or accepting rent from T after the breach)

  • See the flowcharts on the BOOK

Advantages:

- LL can terminate the lease early and bring in a new T

Disadvantages:

- If peaceful re-entry is not possible, it will be expensive to get a court order due to costs.

- The forfeiture clause must be included in the lease to be possible to use it.

- The T may apply to court to be released from forfeiture

- if LL accepts rent LL may forfeit its right to forfeiture.

CRAR (formerly Distress)

P.330

  • Allows LL to enter the premises and seize goods on the commercial premises and sell them to recover the rent (can’t be sued for residential)

  • This is not commonly used now because of the Human Rights issues. Distress was replaced by Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery CRAR on 6 April 2014.

  • Using CRAR will waive any right to forfeit that may have arisen. Therefore, before exercising CRAR, the LL should consider carefully:

  1. Whether it will matter that any right to forfeit will be lost in consequence;

  2. How the LL will deal with any existing breaches of the lease (other than non-payment).

  • PROCEDURE: by s.77 TCEA 2007, the following conditions must be satisfied:

  1. T must be in arrears for minimum 7 days before notice of enforcement is given (reg. 52, TCGR ‘13).

  2. LL gives notice to T at least 7 days before CRAR is exercised (no Sunday Holiday).

  3. Amount in arrears must be certain or capable of being calculated with certainty.

  4. Only an enforcement agent can exercise CRAR on behalf of LL (parag. 2, Sch 12, TCEA 2007).

Advantages:

- May be able to recover the debt before secured creditors in case of T being subject to insolvency

Disadvantages:

- T may need the seized property for trading = make an income = repay LL due rent = only making matters worse for everyone.

- May end up badly due to the emotional charge involved in seizing somebody else’s property.

Collect from

Sub-T

  • section 6 of the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1908 (LDAA 1908).

  • s.6 LDAA 1908 entitles a LL, whose immediate T is in arrears of rent, to serve a notice on an undertenant, requiring it to pay the underlease rent directly to the head...

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