Remedies for Breach of Leasehold Covenants

Introduction

A lease can come to an end in several ways. This chapter, part of **Unit 6 — Leases**, examines the principal modes of termination and when each is available: **effluxion of time**, **notice to quit** in a periodic tenancy, **break clauses** in a fixed-term lease, **surrender** (express and implied), **merger**, **frustration**, **disclaimer** in insolvency, **forfeiture** (revisited in outline, covered fully in Chapter 13), **repudiatory breach** and **enlargement** — and the **statutory security-of-tenure** regimes which displace the common-law position for business and residential tenancies, including the transformative effect of the **Renters' Rights Act 2025**.

Assessment focus

For the SQE1 **FLK2** assessment, you must understand the principal modes by which a lease terminates and recognise when each is available. The most heavily examined points are: the displacement of **effluxion of time** by **statutory security of tenure** (**Part II Landlord and Tenant Act 1954** for business tenancies; the **Housing Act 1988** as amended for residential tenancies); the rule in **Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v Monk** that a single joint tenant can serve a valid notice to quit; the **strict construction** of break clauses (**Friends Life v Siemens Hearing Instruments**); the deed requirement for express **surrender** and surrender by operation of law (**Barrett v Morgan**); the extremely high threshold for **frustration** (**National Carriers v Panalpina**); and the survival of a **guarantor's** liability on **disclaimer** (**Hindcastle**). For the **July 2026 sitting** onwards, the **Renters' Rights Act 2025** is live law: ASTs are abolished, s.21 no-fault eviction is gone, and possession is available only on statutory grounds.

Study tips

1) Whenever a question deals with the end of a fixed-term lease, **check first for statutory security of tenure** — do not assume the lease ends automatically. 2) Memorise the **notice periods**: one full period of the tenancy, with the **yearly tenancy as the exception (6 months)**; residential dwellings need **minimum 4 weeks' written notice** (**s.5 PEA 1977**). 3) Remember **Monk**: any **one** joint tenant can determine a periodic tenancy unilaterally. 4) Treat break clauses as **strictly construed** — every condition precedent must be met to the letter; no de minimis or estoppel rescue. 5) **Surrender** is bilateral: express = **deed** (s.52 LPA 1925); implied = conduct wholly inconsistent with continuance. 6) **Frustration** of a lease is possible **in principle** but the bar is **extremely high**. 7) On **disclaimer**, the insolvent tenant's liability ends but **guarantors and former tenants remain liable** (**Hindcastle**). 8) For **July 2026**: ASTs abolished, **s.21 gone**, possession only on **s.8 / Schedule 2 grounds**, tenant may terminate on **2 months' notice**.