The routes by which a commercial lease comes to an end, and how the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 reshapes each of them for protected business tenancies.
A business tenancy with security of tenure does not simply expire — it continues until ended by one of the recognised statutory or common law routes, so knowing which route applies and how it operates is essential. This chapter opens with the principal methods of termination and the effect of Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, before examining break clauses, the strict construction of their conditions, and the notice to quit for periodic tenancies. It then works through the statutory machinery of the landlord's section 25 notice and the tenant's section 26 request, followed by surrender and merger, including the formalities and the procedure for agreements to surrender. Finally, it deals with forfeiture — the forfeiture clause, methods of re-entry, waiver, the section 146 notice — and the grounds on which tenants and sub-tenants may obtain relief.
