Alienation meaning

This Checklist is illustrative rather than comprehensive and will not anticipate every scenario in every deal. It sets out the principal actions and issues to review when representing a landlord in relation to a tenant’s request for a licence to assign. It proceeds on the basis that the tenant holds a rack rent lease of commercial premises. Undertaking for costs If the lease or the Heads of Terms place the landlord’s consideration costs on the tenant, seek an undertaking from the tenant’s solicitors covering the landlord’s legal and surveyor fees (plus VAT and disbursements), regardless of whether the assignment proceeds and irrespective of whether consent is given. Ensure your estimate is adequate, or expressly retain the right to uplift the sum if the case becomes unusually complex or drawn out. Assess whether the undertaking should also include any superior landlord’s charges, where relevant. Does the lease permit assignment? Review the lease’s alienation clauses to confirm whether assignment is allowed and, if so, the conditions attached. Where...

Flowchart This Flowchart outlines the prerequisites that need to be met to prove a fraudulent trading claim...

During any due diligence on acquiring a leasehold interest in land, it is vital to review whether the tenant may assign, underlet, or charge the premises. Provisions that are too restrictive may: adversely affect the buyer’s ability to dispose of their interest in the property in the future create a burden for day-to-day property management impact the overall value of the property to the buyer This Checklist is directed chiefly at leases granted for a reasonably long term at an annual market rent. For further guidance on: building leases, see Practice Note: Building leases—alienation side-by-side or geared rent leases, see Practice Note: Headlease rent linked to underlease rents long leases granted for a premium at a peppercorn rent where the leasehold interest is virtually equivalent to a freehold interest, see Precedent: Long lease of whole of commercial premises at a premium Assignment Can the tenant assign the lease and is the landlord’s consent...

Original news Makhlouf v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Northern Ireland) [2016] UKSC 59, [2016] All ER (D) 93 (Nov) The Supreme Court rejected an appeal against a deportation order made against a foreign offender, notwithstanding that his children are British citizens living in the UK. While the appellant argued that removal would violate his and his children’s rights under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the court decided that, on the evidence, he had no relationship with either child and their lives had been completely unaffected by his being their father. The court also determined that the Secretary of State was not required to undertake further enquiries concerning the appellant and his children beyond those already conducted. What was the background to the case? The appellant, a Tunisian national, married a British citizen in Tunisia in 1996. In 1997, his wife returned to Northern Ireland for the birth of their daughter, and he subsequently joined her. He was granted indefinite leave...

In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children Private children Financial provision International children Daily and weekly news alerts New Q&As Useful information Practice and procedure New FPR 2010, PD 27A on bundles—what are the main changes? The sixth Practice Direction Update 2025 unveiled a replacement Practice Direction to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 dealing with court bundles, namely FPR 2010, PD 27A (Family proceedings: court bundles). It takes effect on 2 March 2026 and supersedes the earlier PD 27A in full. Strict adherence to FPR 2010, PD 27A is required to secure uniformity across England and Wales, both in the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court, when preparing and lodging bundles. From 2 March 2026, compliance is compulsory for every hearing, with no transitional arrangements. The text has been structurally overhauled and has grown to more than twice its former length. Before 2 March 2026, PD 27A existed as a...

In this issue: Trespass and adverse possession Residential tenancies Business tenancies Electronic communications Repairing obligations and dilapidations Contractual issues Service charges Disputes and remedies Additional Property Disputes updates LexTalk®Property Disputes: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&As Trespass and adverse possession Supreme Court rules that any ten-year span of reasonable belief in ownership suffices for registration under the LRA 2002 (Brown v Ridley) In Brown v Ridley [2025] UKSC 7, the Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal, concluding that, when correctly interpreted, paragraph 5(4)(c) of Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002 enables adverse possession to be established by relying on any ten-year period during which the applicant reasonably believed themselves to be the owner, and not solely the ten years immediately preceding the application. See News Analysis: Supreme Court confirms that any ten-year period...

Shared Ownership (SO) Shared Ownership (SO) is a government-backed route intended to widen access to home ownership, predominantly for leasehold properties. Purchasers begin by buying a stake in their home and paying rent on the remaining share. They can then acquire additional slices of equity over time through staircasing, ultimately reaching full ownership at final staircasing. Although often called ‘part rent part buy’, a more accurate description is that the SO buyer holds an equity interest while renting under a lease. Across England, excluding Greater London, SO is delivered via Homes England (HE) funding programmes: for SO homes delivered 2016–21, under the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016–21 (SOAHP 2016–21) since 1 April 2021, under the Affordable Homes Programme 2021–26 (AHP 2021–26) The rules and requirements governing SO are set out in Chapter 1 of HE’s Capital Funding Guide (CFG). Eligibility criteria be at least 18 years old have a household income of £80,000 a year...

This Practice Note examines matters arising when a party to a lease dies during the term, including the consequences for the lease, any termination rights that may emerge, how to serve notices on a deceased landlord or tenant or refer to them in proceedings, and the principle of survivorship. It also addresses what occurs on the death of a guarantor, and the approach to registration. Vesting in personal representatives Death of the tenant The lease does not determine on the death of a sole tenant. Rather, the term (fixed or periodic) vests in the tenant’s personal representatives (PRs). It does not devolve under any Will or intestacy until expressly assigned. Where there is a Will, the executors take the lease immediately on the tenant’s death. If the tenant died intestate, or there are no validly appointed executors willing or able to act, the lease vests in the Public Trustee until a grant of administration is obtained. This vesting is an assignment by operation of law and therefore...

Sections 242 and 243 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) In Scotland, these provisions regulate the two principal forms of antecedent transaction that a company may undertake. They do not apply to individuals or to companies registered in England and Wales; for the position in England, refer to the Practice Notes on transactions at an undervalue under section 238 and on preferences under section 239 of the Insolvency Act 1986. For Scottish individual/personal debtors, consult the Practice Note on gratuitous alienations by individual debtors. For a glossary of frequently used Scottish insolvency terminology, see Practice Note: Glossary of Scottish insolvency words and expressions. Unfair preferences What constitutes an unfair preference? An unfair preference is any transaction entered into by a company, whether before or after 1 April 1986, that has the effect of giving one creditor priority over the general body of creditors (IA 1986, s 243(1)). The date on which the unfair preference arises is the date the transaction became effectual. Hardening periods...

STANDARD SECURITY by [ INSERT THE GRANTOR’S NAME ] in favour of [ INSERT GRANTEE’S NAME ] Security Subjects: [ INSERT DETAILS OF PROPERTY ] 1 [ I OR We ], being [ insert name of Seller under Option Agreement ] [ of [ insert address ] OR incorporated in [ Scotland OR England and Wales ] with company registration number [ insert company registration number ] and registered office at [ insert address ] ] (the ‘Grantor’), as the present heritable proprietors of the aftermentioned Security Subjects, ACKNOWLEDGING that [ I OR we ] have assumed certain obligations under the option agreement entered into between (1) [ me OR us ], the said Grantor, and (2) [ insert name of Buyer under Option Agreement ] [ of [ insert address ] OR incorporated in [ Scotland OR England and Wales ] with company registration number [ insert company registration number ] whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (the ‘Grantee’ and which expression includes successors...

HM Land Registry Prescribed Clauses LR1. Lease date [ date ] LR2. Title number(s) LR2.1 Landlord’s title number(s) [ title number(s) from which this lease is granted. Leave blank if the landlord’s title is not registered ] LR2.2 Additional title numbers [ existing title number(s) against which entries for matters mentioned in LR9, LR10, LR11 and LR13 are to be recorded ] LR3. Parties to the lease Landlord [ [ OPTION 1 — name of Landlord (not an overseas entity) ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with registered office at [ address ] ] OR [ OPTION 2 — name of Landlord (overseas entity) ] [ incorporated OR formed ] in [ territory of incorporation/formation ] (registration number [ number ]) [ and registered at Companies House (company registration number BR[ number ]) ] (overseas entity ID [ [...

It is assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that the refusal of consent concerns an alienation application (ie a proposal to assign/underlet/charge/part with possession). If, however, the matter instead relates to alterations, the position will need to be reconsidered, as distinct case law and statutory provisions govern that topic. As a useful starting point for that subject, see: Alterations and improvements for property disputes lawyers—overview. Unreasonable withholding of consent As set out in Practice Note: Landlord's consent to assign or underlet, the High Court in Ansa Logistics v Towerbeg confirmed that consent to assign/underlet cannot normally be withheld merely because a landlord is able to point to a breach of covenant. The key question is whether the particular breach is of such a character or seriousness as to warrant the refusal of consent...

Whether a covenant is infringed hinges on the facts and the precise wording of the lease covenant. Assigning underletting, parting with or sharing possession Assignment A promise 'not to assign' or 'not to assign or otherwise part with' the premises is breached only where there is a legal assignment of the whole remainder of the term (Gentle v Faulkner). Accordingly, granting someone exclusive possession without effecting a legal assignment of the full term does not offend the covenant. In short, exclusive possession alone, absent such an assignment, will not amount to breach. See Commentary: Covenants against assignment or parting with possession: Hill and Redman's Law of Landlord and Tenant [1]...

Q&A In this Q&A, the tenant is termed the immediate tenant, while the intended subtenant is called the proposed tenant. Any subtenants of the proposed tenant are described as potential subtenants. As the exact text of the lease covenants is unknown to us, we proceed on the basis that the prohibition covenant mirrors that in Nemcova v Fairfield Rents, under which the lease obliged occupants not to use the premises for any unlawful or immoral purpose, and ‘for any purpose whatsoever other than as a private residence’. We also proceed on the basis that the alienation clause includes a requirement for the immediate tenant to adhere to the provisions set out in the superior lease in full...