Content area
Full text
Alienation Should a provision allow a tenant to underlet without landlord's consent if it contributed to the cost of the building? By Bruce Dear and Elizabeth Chapple
Section 19 of the landlord and renant Act 1927 contains various provisions concerning landlord s consent. Section 19(1) deals with assignment, underletting and other types of alienation. However, subsection (/>), which governs the alienation of building leases, is often overlooked.
The subsection applies where a lease (other than a mining lease) Ls: (i) granted for a term of more than 40 years; and (ii) made in consideration wholly or partly of the erection or alteration of or a substantial improvement or addition to buildings. The tenants under such leases enjoy (often unknowingly) enhanced freedom. Unless the landlord is a government department, a local or public authority or a statutory or public utility" company, the tenant does not require consent or licence for certain transactions that take place more than seven years before the end of the term
Subsection (!)(/>) applies to underletting, parting with possession and charging. Assignment was originally included, but does not now apply to leases that are "new tenancies", which broadly means those that were granted on or after 1 January 1996". Curiously, however, it continues to apply to leases of private residences, whenever granted.
Unanswered questions
Many questions in respect of the subsection remain unanswered, including the following:
* When is subsection (1)(6) relevant? As explained above, it applies to a lease "made in consideration wholly or partially of the erection, or the substantial improvement, addition or alteration of buildings". The logic, presumably, is that if the tenant has...