Leases get assigned, reversions get sold, and tenants move on — but the promises in the lease still have to be kept by someone. When a landlord wants the rent paid or the repairs done, the first practical question a solicitor faces is simple to ask and easy to get wrong: who is actually liable? The answer turns on when the lease was granted, who currently holds the estate, and what the original parties signed up to. Getting it right tells you who to pursue, who is off the hook, and what steps a landlord must take to recover.
What this lesson covers:
- Foundational Doctrines and the Two Regimes — privity of contract and estate, assignment versus subletting, and the date that splits leases into old and new.
- Old Lease Regime — the original tenant's lifelong liability, when an assignee is bound, and how covenants pass with the reversion.
- New Lease Regime, AGAs and Landlord Release — automatic release of outgoing tenants, authorised guarantee agreements, and how a landlord seeks release.
- Covenants Restricting Assignment — absolute, qualified and fully qualified covenants, and what happens on a breach.
- Applications for Consent — the landlord's duties when a tenant asks to assign, and who must justify a refusal.
- Recovery from Former Tenants — section 17 notices, overriding leases, and the chain of indemnity.