Section 146 notice meaning

In this issue: Property management Leasing property Residential property Transferring property Investigating title Property insolvency Easements, rights and covenants Property development Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Property management Building Safety Act 2022 and recoverability of service charges In Adriatic Land 5 Ltd v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2025] EWCA Civ 856, the Court of Appeal considered whether paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) operates retrospectively so as to bar landlords from passing on specified service charge liabilities to holders of qualifying leases. By majority, the court also concluded the pertinent BSA 2022 provisions have retroactive effect. Consequently, a landlord is prohibited from recouping certain expenditure incurred before BSA 2022 came into force on 28 June 2022 from leaseholders with qualifying leases. Accordingly, any landlord who had not reclaimed the relevant service charges from...

Mayor and Burgesses of the Tower Hamlets London Borough Council v Khan [2022] EWCA Civ 831 What are the practical implications of this case? Lease agreements often include provisions enabling landlords to reclaim legal costs incurred ‘in contemplation of’ or ‘incidental to’ forfeiture proceedings. Attempts to recover rent and service charge arrears are frequently brought in forums where costs are generally not recoverable, such as the FTT and the County Court Small Claims Track. Landlords therefore lean on these provisions to assert that costs are contractually recoverable because proceedings to recover rent/service charge arrears were issued ‘in contemplation of’ or ‘incidental to’ prospective forfeiture proceedings. The Court of Appeal’s decision curtails the range of what will be treated as ‘incidental to the preparation and service’ of a section 146 notice, yet gives no guidance on what costs are incurred ‘in contemplation of’ forfeiture proceedings. It is noteworthy that the Court of Appeal concluded there was no inconsistency between Contractreal Ltd v Davies [2001] EWCA Civ 928 and 69 Marina,...

This Practice Note examines how a landlord may recover the expense of taking steps to enforce tenant covenants, including pursuing rent arrears, serving a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925, or obtaining a determination on service charge liability. It considers the effect of typical lease provisions obliging tenants to meet costs, and the ability of the court or tribunal to direct that the landlord’s costs of proceedings are not recoverable as service charges under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LTA 1985), or as administration charges under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002) Options for cost recovery Depending on the circumstances, landlords may use several routes to recover costs. These include: Costs orders made in proceedings. See: Costs orders—overview and First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal—overview Statutory liability for costs in specified situations, such as a claim for a lease extension or collective enfranchisement. Reference should be made to guidance for the relevant process—for...

This Practice Note outlines the principal steps a landlord must take to terminate a residential lease by forfeiture, on the basis that no security of tenure applies (for example, assured tenancy status does not). It addresses the pre-conditions to ending the lease, whether the tenant’s default is non-payment of rent, service or administration charges, or some other breach of covenant. The requirements are explained in detail in Practice Note: Statutory limitations on the landlord’s right to forfeit a long residential lease. This Practice Note is not a comprehensive guide to the recoverability of service or administration charges; for further guidance, see: Residential service charge disputes—overview. For a landlord’s guide to forfeiture in general, see Practice Note: How to forfeit a lease. Do preliminary checks Confirm that forfeiture is the most suitable remedy for the landlord. Verify the lease contains a forfeiture clause and that the right to forfeit has not been waived. See Practice Note: Forfeiture of a lease. Ascertain whether the lease qualifies...

This Practice Note provides a high-level overview of the principal changes to residential tenancies introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA 2025), in outline. More detailed guidance will be issued in due course, and also refreshed as subsequent regulations supply further particulars and commencement dates for the relevant provisions as they are made. The Practice Note covers: ending assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) assured tenancies (ATs) operating on a periodic basis bringing tenancies to an end rent rules and tenancy deposit obligations keeping pets implied covenants on fitness for human habitation and on repair discrimination in the rental market in England and Wales assured agricultural tenancies penalties for unlawful eviction or harassment obligations on landlords, contractors and other relevant persons regarding ATs, plus financial penalties and offences for non-compliance, and guarantor liability redress scheme for private sector landlords private rented sector database rent repayment orders sanctions, including financial penalties, for breaches of...

Notice before forfeiture To: [ insert full name of Tenant ] of [ insert address ] [ incorporated in England and Wales with company registration number [ insert company registration number ] ] or otherwise the Tenant of the Property...

Notice before forfeiture To: [ insert full name of Tenant ] of [ insert address ] Law of Property Act 1925, section 146 I, [ insert full name of Landlord ] of [ insert address ], the [ current ] landlord under the Lease, notify you that: The Lease requires the tenant to [ insert details of the relevant repairing covenants ]. You have breached clause(s) [ insert clause number(s) ]; the dilapidations are listed in the Schedule. All remediable breaches must be made good. If not remedied within a reasonable time, I will exercise my right of re-entry and also claim damages. You must pay monetary compensation for the breaches and all reasonable costs of preparing and serving this notice [ pursuant to clause [ clause number ] of the Lease ]. You may serve a counter-notice claiming the benefit of the Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938 within 28 days, in writing, by personal service, leaving it at...

Forfeiture Forfeiture is a contractual mechanism that permits a landlord to terminate a tenancy when the tenant breaches the tenancy terms. This can be achieved either by peaceable re-entry to the property or by starting court proceedings. The tenant retains the ability to seek relief from forfeiture. This Q&A does not clarify whether the lease in question is commercial or residential. For commercial lettings, a landlord cannot exercise forfeiture without first serving a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925, setting out the breach and requiring the tenant to remedy it. However, no section 146 notice...

Peaceable re-entry This enquiry considers how a landlord may carry out a peaceable re-entry. The discussion is confined to a specific point, on the footing that a notice pursuant to section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 has already been served. It is further taken as read that the right to forfeit has accrued, has not been waived, and that the lease reserves a right of re-entry. Steps have been taken to confirm the premises are empty. That precaution matters because it is a criminal offence for A to use violence to gain entry to premises when B is within, objects to the entry, and A is aware of that fact (section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (CLA 1977)). The narrow point presented is what amounts to peaceable re-entry. Peaceable re-entry is, perhaps, something of a misdescription...

It is assumed that the landlord has instituted proceedings to forfeit the lease due to non-payment of rent. Given the claim has succeeded, it is further assumed the lease contained a clause authorising re-entry upon non-payment of rent, and that either the arrears were duly demanded or section 210 of the Common Law Procedure Act 1852 applies, with at least six months’ rent outstanding and insufficient distress available on the premises to satisfy the arrears, in which situation any demand is dispensed with. There is likewise no requirement to serve a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 where the breach relied upon is non-payment of rent. In matters of forfeiture for non-payment of rent, as in this instance, relief is exercised under the equitable jurisdiction of the courts, and any relief is considered, granted or refused strictly within that jurisdiction and on equitable principles alone...