Brief summary of procedure for protecting a deposit (DPS)
Below is a quick summary of how to protect a deposit using the most popular scheme, the Deposit Protection Service (DPS). The paperwork If you receive a deposit before you grant a tenancy, the deposit needs to be a “reservation fee” so the 14 days do not...
Tenancy greater than £25,000 per annum
Below is an article taken from the Sunday Times which is not especially helpful. The simple fact is that a tenancy where the rent is greater than £25,000 (£100k from October 2010) per annum can never be an AST but this is a good thing, not a bad thing. It is just as...
Resident Landlord
Resident landlords are excluded from being able to grant an assured shorthold tenancy and there are two types of resident landlord. Sharing facilities e.g. kitchen, bathroom etc with tenant If you share facilities with the occupier, then it is unlikely that they are a...
Tenancies that CANNOT be an assured (shorthold) tenancy
Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988 contains certain tenancies which cannot be assured or assured shorthold tenancies, for example resident landlords and tenancies where the rent payable is greater than £100,000 per annum. A brief list of the exclusions are: Tenancies...When rent is due and in arrears
Rent is payable in arrears unless there is an express agreement that it is payable in advance. Where the rent is payable in arrears the landlord is only entitled to rent up until the date the tenancy is determined. Where the rent is payable in advance (as in most...
Payment of rent into bank
Where the landlord directed the tenant to pay rent to the landlord’s bank, the rent was paid when the money was transferred into the landlord’s bank account and not when the receiving bank notified the landlord that the payment had been made. [Eyles v...
Payment of rent in advance is not payment of rent
Payment before the day is voluntary and a payment of a sum in gross, and no satisfaction at law of the rent. [Clun’s Case (1613) 10 Co.Rep. 127b; Cromwell v Andrews (1583) cro.Eliz. 15.] Thus the landlord was entitled at law for forfeit for non-payment of rent...
Payment of rent by a stranger
Payment or satisfaction of the amount of the rent due by a stranger to the contract of tenancy does not discharge the tenant unless it is made by that person as agent for the tenant and with his prior authority or subsequent ratification. [Smith v. Cox [1940] 2 K.B....
Must landlord accept rent?
It seems that the landlord is not obliged to accept rent tendered to him. He may refuse to do so where, for example, he wishes to avoid waiving the right to forfeit. [cf. Richards v. De Freitas (1974) 29 P. & C.R. 1.] Where the landlord refuses to accept rent,...
Landlord can force sub-tenant to pay rent (if one)
A superior landlord has the right to require a sub-tenant to make future payments of rent to him where his immediate tenant is in arrear with the rent. [Law of Distress Amendment Act 1908, s.6] s 6 To avoid distress. In cases where the rent of the immediate tenant of...
Verbal (parol) Tenancies
Is it possible to have a verbal tenancy? This is never advisable but yes it is possible [s54 Law of Property Act 1925] 53.- Instruments required to be in writing. (1) Subject to the provision hereinafter contained with respect to the creation of interests in land by...
Surrender
Also see “is notice by tenant valid“ Surrender by operation of law An agreement by the landlord and the tenant that the term shall be put an end to, acted upon by the tenant’s quitting the premises and the landlord by some unequivocal act taking...Subletting (Assured Shorthold Tenancy)
Termination of head tenancy: effect on assured [shorthold] tenancy The common law provides that where a tenancy is determined all sub-tenancies automatically come to an end unless the superior tenancy has been determined by surrender. S.18 Housing Act 1988 nullifies...
Is flat above shop residential or commercial?
Kent Coast Property Investments v Ward [1990] 45 E.G. 107 Abstract: Where a demise consisted of a corner shop with accommodation above, and the shop was found to have been occupied for the purposes of a business, the entire demise was subject to the Landlord and...
Landlords Building Insurance
Guild subscribers can get discounted landlords buildings insurance especially designed for landlords
