UK Construction Law (Business lease and landlord breaching contract) Essay

UK Construction Law (Business lease and landlord breaching contract) - Essay Example The time of tenancy is certain and the lease can not be continued indefinitely. In your case, the length is fixed for a period of 15 years. At the end of that term, he would have had to yield up possession of the property to you. The only way that you can take possession of the house from your tenant before expiration of the lease period is by exercising your right of forfeiture. It entitles you to bring the lease to an end for the breach by the tenant of any of the covenants. Forfeiture in your case will be for Breach of Repair covenant by tenant. I am not yet informed whether the lease contained a break clause which would have entitled you and/or the tenant upon service of notice as provided for in the lease. The ‘put and keep’ clause in the lease which is a full repairing and insuring lease is termed a covenant i.e. an undertaking by your tenant to the effect that he will keep the property in good condition and carry out repair if there is some damage to the building. In your case, the external cladding of the building is damaged and it has not remained effective enough to keep the rainwater out, which is causing damage to other parts of the building. REMEDIES FOR LANDLORDS In general the following remedies are available to a landlord for breach of repair covenant by a tenant. He can claim damages for the beach of covenant. In this case, the damages would be equal to diminution in the value of his reversion. He can seek specific performance of the tenant’s obligation to repair as per the covenant. The court allowed specific performance in Rainbow Estates Ltd v Tokenhold [1999] Ch 64. But the tenant can avoid specific performance if he can prove your intention of dismantling the building He can seek forfeiture of the tenancy for breach of covenant to repair. The landlord has to follow the Procedure as under in order to exercise his right of forfeiture. (1) He has to prepare a Schedule of dilapidations in accordance with the following chart . Dilapidations are items of disrepair. These are caused by the tenant not following his covenant of keeping the property in good repair. Preparation of the schedule of dilapidations is necessary as it will be a piece of evidence in the action for possession of property to be filed in the court. In your case, the chart would be as follows Ref Location Defect Remedy Cost in ? 1.00 Roof 1.01 Leaking in some places Water proofing Water stains and mold towards the South Eastern side of the warehouse 2.00 External Cladding Damaged Will have to be replaced Total cost (2) He has to serve an interim schedule on the customer. (3) He has to serve notice under s 146 of the Law of Property Act, 1925. The instructions do not mention whether your lease provides for a period of notice dutring which the tenant can remedy the breach. In such circumstances, the said notice must be in writing and give the tenant reasonable time to repair. After the introduction and coming into effect of the Civil Proc edure Rules, however, its requirements are to be observed before the building is inspected and schedule for dilapidation is prepared. The Civil Procedure Rules provide guidelines for the conduct of parties in Part 56 Position of the tenant Before taking any action for breach in case of a tenancy for more than 7 years and more than three years remaining Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938 applies to that tenancy. The landlord has to inform his tenant about his right to serve a counter notice. The minimum period of this notice is 28 days. The tenant has a