Business Tenancies mcps Flashcards
You act for a landlord in granting a five year lease of an office floor to a prospective tenant. The lease is about to complete tomorrow, and the landlord just remembers to tell you that in five years they want to change the office block to short term serviced offices that will require all the current tenants to leave. The landlord, however, says not to worry as the tenant has told them that they only need the premises for five years anyway. There is no letting agent and neither the landlord nor its employees are affiliated with any professional body.
What would be the best way to proceed (with your client’s approval)?
You will now have to proceed with the lease as it is drafted as to do otherwise would be a breach of the Code for Leasing Business Premises.
Before completion of the lease, you will need to serve a warning notice of contracting out on the tenant, and obtain a statutory declaration from the tenant. The lease will need to be amended to refer to the notice and declaration.
You can proceed without changing anything, as the landlord will have a statutory ground to oppose renewal of the lease.
You can proceed without changing anything, as the tenant cannot claim security of tenure if they have waived the right in advance.
The completion of the lease will have to be delayed as there is not enough time for the contracting out procedure to take place.
Before completion of the lease, you will need to serve a warning notice of contracting out on the tenant, and obtain a statutory declaration from the tenant. The lease will need to be amended to refer to the notice and declaration.
Correct. The landlord’s proposal to recover the premises at five years does not fall into a statutory ground, and the only way of ensuring that the tenant can be required to leave is to contract out the lease.
A tenant occupies premises under a fixed term lease of ten years. The lease is protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (Part II) (the 1954 Act). Today’s date is 1 January 2022 and the contractual expiry date of the lease is 7 July 2022. No notices have yet been served under the 1954 Act. You act for the tenant and they want to request a new lease of the same premises as soon as possible.
Which one of the following is the best advice to give the tenant on the earliest date they can serve a s 26 request in compliance with the 1954 Act?
The tenant should serve a section 26 request on the landlord today.
The tenant should wait until 7 January 2022 to serve a section 26 request on the landlord.
The tenant should wait until 7 July 2022 to serve a section 26 request on the landlord.
The tenant should wait until 1 July 2022 to serve a section 26 request on the landlord.
The tenant should wait until 8 July 2022 to serve a section 26 request on the landlord.
The tenant should serve a section 26 request on the landlord today.
Correct.
A s 26 request is served by a tenant, who is protected by the 1954 Act, to request a new lease of the same premises. The s 26 request includes the proposed commencement date of the new lease.
The s 26 request can be served either before or after the contractual expiry date of the lease. However, as the proposed commencement date of the new lease 1) cannot be before the contractual expiry date of the lease and 2) there have to be at least 6 and no more than 12 months between the date the s 26 request is served and the proposed commencement date of the new lease, the earliest a s 26 request can be served is 12 months before the contractual expiry date of the lease. The s 26 request can then be served at any time from that date as long as another notice has not already been served under the 1954 Act (which has not happened on these facts).
On these facts, 12 months before the contractual expiry date of the lease was 7 July 2021. That date has already passed as today’s date, stated in the question, is 1 January 2022, and no notices have yet been served under the 1954 Act so the tenant can serve a s 26 request at any time. As today is the earliest date they can serve the s 26 request, the tenant should do so today to request their new lease as soon as possible.
A tenant occupies premises under a fixed term lease of ten years. The lease is protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (Part II) (the 1954 Act). The contractual expiry date of the lease was 1 January 2022. No notices have yet been served under the 1954 Act. Today’s date is 30 May 2022. You act for the landlord and they have instructed you to serve a s 25 notice today, to terminate the tenancy.
Which one of the following dates is the earliest date of termination of the lease that you are able to specify in the s 25 notice, served today, in compliance with the 1954 Act?
30 November 2022.
1 January 2023.
30 May 2022.
30 May 2023.
1 July 2022.
30 November 2022.
Correct.
A s 25 notice is served by a landlord, on a tenant who is protected by the 1954 Act, to terminate the tenancy. The 25 notice must specify in the notice the date at which the tenancy is to come to an end.
The date of termination of the tenancy specified in the s 25 notice 1) cannot be before the contractual expiry date of the lease and 2) must be at least 6 months and no more than 12 months from the date the s 25 notice is served (which is today – 30 May 2022 on our facts). (s 25(2) and s 25(4) of the 1954 Act).
As the contractual expiry date of the lease on our facts has already passed, the earliest date of termination that can be specified on our facts will be 6 months from today’s date (the date the s 25 notice is served).
You act for a landlord who has just received a section 26 notice from the tenant of a warehouse unit under a protected 10 year lease. The landlord does not want to renew the tenant’s lease, but instead take the premises back for the purposes of its own storage business. It has entered into storage contracts with various companies to start following the expiry of the tenant’s lease.
How do you advise the landlord to proceed?
The landlord needs to serve a counter-notice within 2 months of the section 26 notice citing the relevant statutory ground of opposition to renewal.
The landlord needs to serve a counter-notice within 2 months of the section 26 notice stating its opposition to renewal. If the tenant pursues the section 26 notice further, the landlord will need to give the relevant statutory ground on which it intends to rely.
The landlord will need to make a court application within 21 days of the service of the section 26 notice to strike out the section 26 notice citing the statutory ground of opposition.
The landlord should serve a hostile s25 notice citing the statutory ground on which it opposes renewal.
The landlord should have served a hostile section 25 notice, and as the tenant’s section 26 notice has barred the landlord from doing so, the landlord cannot oppose renewal.
The landlord needs to serve a counter-notice within 2 months of the section 26 notice citing the relevant statutory ground of opposition to renewal.
Correct. This is the correct procedure if the landlord wishes to oppose renewal. The landlord will rely on ground (g), being its intention to occupy the premises. It will be able to use the storage contracts to show a firm and settled intention.
A tenant has a fixed term lease of ten years and wants to end its lease on the contractual expiry date (CED), which is in three weeks’ time. The lease is protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (Part II) (the 1954 Act). The tenant does not want to remain in the premises past the CED.
Which one of the following methods should the tenant use?
The tenant should serve a s 25 notice under the 1954 Act.
The tenant should serve a s 26 notice under the 1954 Act.
The tenant should vacate the premises on or before the CED.
The tenant should serve a notice to quit.
The tenant should serve a s 27 notice under the 1954 Act.
The tenant should vacate the premises on or before the CED.
Correct.
A s 25 notice is served by a landlord to terminate a protected tenancy whereas in this question we are asked for the correct method for the tenant to use.
A s 26 notice/request is served by a tenant but it is a request for a new lease of the same premises which the tenant in this question does not want as we are told that they do not want to remain in the premises past the CED.
A s 27 notice is served by the tenant and does terminate a protected tenancy but it must give three months’ notice and the tenant wants to end the lease on the CED which is only three weeks away so there is not sufficient time to serve a s 27 notice to end the lease on the CED.
A tenant’s notice to quit is relevant for a periodic tenancy not for a fixed term tenancy as here.
