Business leases: Notices to quit: Part 1

Numerous Acts of Parliament govern this area of law. We shall explain the basic concepts in this article.

During the term of the lease, the landlord can obtain possession of the property only for the breach of a lease term by the tenant.

When a lease expires, the tenant is said to “hold over”, under the terms of the expired lease.  So far as the landlord is concerned, there are two routes: either he seeks possession, or alternatively, he is willing to grant a new lease at a new rent and possibly with changes to other terms.

If he seeks possession, there are two further alternatives:

• Either the parties jointly obtained an order of the court at the commencement of the tenancy to exclude the tenant’s rights to a renewal at the end of the term;
• Or they did not.  If they did, the landlord can obtain possession immediately, and the court must grant possession.

If the parties did not obtain such an order, the new provisions of The Regulatory Reform (Business Tenancies) (England and Wales) Order 2003 are effective from 1st June 2004. You can find a link to this order at the end of this article. The Regulatory Reform (Business Tenancies) (England and Wales) Order 2003

The Regulatory Reform (Business Tenancies) (England and Wales) Order 2003 made life simpler for parties agreeing to exclude the usual tenant’s security of tenure but far harder for everyone in deciding which of 13 notices to serve in place of the original 2 we previously used.

So far as the parties are concerned, the notice types break down into several categories. This note describes the notices a landlord can / must give to a tenant.Briefly, there is no short cut to reading each description and deciding whether it applies to your circumstances.

Before starting, a landlord will find it useful to identify:

• Is the landlord opposed to the grant of new lease at the expiry of this one?
• All the following questions assume first that the landlord is opposed to the grant of a new lease;      
• Is the tenant entitled under the 1967 act to buy the freehold or an extended lease?
• Is it that the tenant may be entitled under the 1967 act to buy the freehold or an extended lease?
• Does the landlord intend that the notice under section 25 of the Act will contain a copy of a certificate given under section 57 of the Act that the use or occupation of the property or part of it is to be changed by a specified date?
• What is the date specified in the above certificate?
• What is the date of termination of the tenancy?

Note: Net Lawman does not advise on nor offer forms relating to the remaining possible variations namely the Welsh Development Agency, national security and Employment Act proposals.

With the answers to these questions at hand, go to the Net Lawman list of notices and identify that which applies to your situation.  You will see that we sell the most common notice forms separately, but the less common ones as a pack.  That enables you to take them home and look at them together if you are not sure which to use.  The pack of forms comprising the ten alternative notices where the landlord opposes the grant of a new tenancy contains notes as to how to find which form applies in your case.

Remember too that both the landlord and the tenant can ask questions of the other about the property - but only on the correct form of course. 

This article is in two parts.  Here is part 2.

If by chance you find some error of law or fact in any Net Lawman information page, do please tell us. We should also welcome your suggestions for new subjects for information pages. These notes:

• Do not provide a complete or authoritative statement of the law;
• Do not constitute legal advice by Net Lawman;
• Do not create a contractual relationship;
• Do not form part of any other advice, whether paid or free.