Every commercial lease places limits on what a tenant can do with the premises — and a large part of a property solicitor's work is advising clients, landlord and tenant alike, on where those limits sit and how to work within them. When a tenant wants to fit out a unit, change the business they run, or sell the lease on, it is these covenants that decide whether they can, on what terms, and whether the landlord can lawfully stand in the way.
This lesson takes you through the three families of restriction and the statutory rules that police them, so you can spot what a covenant really permits and advise with confidence.
What this lesson covers:
- Overview of Covenants — the three categories of restriction and the difference between absolute, qualified, and fully qualified covenants.
- Alterations Covenants — what tenants may change, the line between alteration and improvement, and the statutory routes available.
- User Covenants — how the permitted use is controlled and what a landlord can charge for consent.
- Forms of Alienation — the ways a tenant can deal with the lease, and how assignment differs from underletting.
- Statutory Treatment of Alienation Covenants — how statute upgrades consent provisions and what new tenancies allow.
- Reasonableness of Refusing Consent — which grounds justify a refusal and which do not.
- The Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 — the landlord's duties on a consent application and the tenant's remedies.
- Enforcement Against an Undertenant — why direct covenants matter when there is no privity of estate.