Lease termination and surrenders

Lease termination notices are a form of official written communication that states that the tenancy will be ending. This can be served by either the landlord or the tenant and the notice will include the end date of the tenancy. There of course needs to be a right to terminate the lease (either contained in the lease itself, or possibly statutory).

Commercial property leases sometimes contain a break clause that allow you to terminate your lease early. You can also negotiate terminating your lease with the landlord or letting agent in order to terminate it early.

Yes, a landlord can terminate a lease early by:

• Exercising a pre-agreed break clause.
• Serving a Section 25 Notice at the end of the contractual term. This can be done if the lease is protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1954.
• Forfeiting the lease as a result of a tenant breaching it.

Yes, this is referred to as a surrender, which should be formalised in writing to prevent future disputes.

Landlords can only terminate a fixed term lease early if there is a pre-existing break clause agreed upon in the contract, or the tenant has breached their contract.

If a commercial property has been taken over by a new landlord, they can still terminate a commercial lease if there is a pre-existing break clause, by serving a Section 25 notice by initiating a forfeiture if the tenant breached their tenancy.

If the mold has not been fixed by your landlord after they have been notified and especially if it is causing health problems or making the property uninhabitable, you should be able to terminate your lease.

A surrender is a mutual agreement between a landlord and tenant to terminate a lease before its scheduled end date.

This ultimately depends on the terms agreed upon between the landlord and tenant. Examples of costs that may be involved in a surrender include:

• Covering lost rental income until the lease is re-set.
• Covering professional fees for a solicitor to draw up a deed of surrender.
• Covering the fees required to re-market the property.

If a tenant surrenders one or more leases, the tenant may receive a new lease for consideration which may not be chargeable for stamp duty.

Forfeiture is a landlord's right to terminate a lease due to a tenant breaching their contract, whereas a surrender is a voluntary act by a tenant, where they’re looking to terminate the contract early, that is agreed upon by the landlord.