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Individual Right to a New Lease under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

Document Cited authorities 8 Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorPiers Harrison/David Lonsdale
Pages161-163
Chapter 7 Individual Right to a New Lease under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

SUMMARY

7.1 A qualifying tenant of a flat has the right under section 39 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (1993 Act) to apply for a new lease 90 years longer than the existing lease and with the ground rent reduced to a peppercorn.

7.2 This may be a much better option than collective enfranchisement because there is no need to secure the co-operation of any other lessees in the building and no need to assume the responsibility of managing the building in the future.

QUALIFYING TENANTS

7.3 Section 39(2) of the 1993 Act incorporates the definition of qualifying tenant in section 5 (discussed in Chapter 4, para 4.43), with two omissions. The omissions are section 5(5) and (6) which excludes persons or associated companies who have three or more flats.

OWNERSHIP CONDITIONS

7.4 There is a requirement under section 39(2) of the 1993 Act that the tenant has been a qualifying tenant of the flat for a term of at least 2 years at the time of serving the notice of the claim. Time runs from the date of registration of the lease at HM Land Registry, since that is the date the tenant becomes the legal owner (section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002).1

1 Brown and Root Technology Limited v Sun Alliance and London Assurance Co Ltd [2001]

Ch 733.

162 Leasehold Enfranchisement: Law & Practice

7.5 However, this rule would not apply to the original tenant under a lease who has entered into a contract for a lease because under section 101(2) of the 1993 Act, lease includes agreement for a lease. So time runs from the date of the contract.

7.6 Where a lease is held on trust, then a change in the composition of the trustees is unlikely to prevent time from running. If a lease is vested in joint tenants and then becomes vested in one of them, then the period of the joint tenancy would count as the tenant exercising the right can properly say that he has been a qualifying tenant for the whole period. The position the other way round is more difficult. If Albert marries Bertha and having owned a lease for a year decides to transfer it into their joint names, then probably...

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