If you are a landlord who has a tenant on a long lease and that tenant is in breach of any of the provisions of the lease, it may be possible to pursue a claim for forfeiture.
Landlords should note that forfeiture is no longer an option in cases where there are arrears of ground rent, or even service charge unless those arrears exceed £350. The procedure to obtain forfeiture has been made more difficult by the new provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (which came into force in February 2005). Those provisions mean that a landlord cannot serve a Section 146 Notice (the usual notice of forfeiture proceedings) until the breach has been acknowledged by the leaseholder or determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT).
Forfeiture for other breaches of a lease is still permissible but, in all cases a Section 146 Notice must first be served.
The Section 146 Notice gives the leaseholder an opportunity to remedy the breach if it is remediable. A fixed time limit is usually given. After that, proceedings can be taken through the County Court and ultimately, possession obtained. You would then be free to dispose of the property as you saw fit, accounting to the leaseholder after any sale.
It is important to take action quickly if there has been a breach and you wish to pursue a claim for forfeiture. In the case of service charge arrears, the route to forfeiture has been extended by the need for a determination by the LVT. If you instruct us when you identify the breach, we can make the necessary application on your behalf promptly and then undertake the forfeiture process on your behalf.
