YES, it does……………

but it will depend of how either your head lessee and liquidator wish to proceed so start by contacting them.

Firstly it is likely that your immediate landlord is not paying the rent or other demands (insurance, service charge etc). Therfore you may receive a S.6 notice from your superior landlord requesting payment directly from you.

The superior landlord may consider forefeiting the lease if able to do so. He will have the liklihood of re-letting in mind and so economic conditions will have a bearing. You couls apply to the court for relief against forfeiture but the court has the discretion to insist on onerous conditions that you must consider.

Alternatively your landlords liquidator (after adminstration) has the ability to disclaim the lease (only the liquidator can forefeit a lease). If this occurs your rights and liabilities in relation to the property are extinguished. But if you continue to make rental payments (and they are accepted) you can apply to the court for a vesting order so you can step into your landlords shoes and become tenant under the headlease.

If your having problems with your lease, landlord or tenant then contact any of the team at RPS who will be happy to discuss your options with you.

A tenant intended to exercise a break option contained in its Thames Valley office lease but incorrectly served the notice on a previous landlord. The notice was then kindly forwarded to the current landlord’s managing agents who then emailed the tenant accepting the notice but also asking that a fresh notice be served on the correct landlord. This didn’t happen and the landlord subsequently argued that the break option notice was invalid and that the lease should continue.

So, who was wrong?…………….

Well, even though both sides agreed that the tenant had failed to serve a valid notice, the courts held that the managing agents acceptance of the defective notice subsequently bound the landlord and therefore validating the break option notice.

An expensive mistake for the managing agent!

At RPS we know that Lease Break Options are one of the most contentious issues in property litigation. We always carefully consider our proposed actions and responses to protect our clients position. Our role to is protect and advise you of the options available and to proceed accordingly.