Housing Act 1985

PART III Leases

General.

11 A lease shall be for the appropriate term defined in paragraph 12 (but subject to sub-paragraph (3) of that paragraph) and at a rent not exceeding £10 per annum, and the following provisions have effect with respect to the other terms of the lease.

The appropriate term.

12 (1) If at the time the grant is made the landlord’s interest in the dwelling-house is not less than a lease for a term of which more than 125 years and five days are unexpired, the appropriate term is a term of not less than 125 years.

(2) In any other case the appropriate term is a term expiring five days before the term of the landlord’s lease of the dwelling-house (or, as the case may require, five days before the first date on which the term of any lease under which the landlord holds any part of the dwelling-house) is to expire.

(3) If the dwelling-house is a flat contained in a building, which also contains one or more other flats and the landlord has, since 8th August 1980, granted a lease of one or more of them for the appropriate term, the lease of the dwelling-house may be for a term expiring at the end of the term for which the other lease (or one of the other leases) was granted.

Common use of premises and facilities.

13 Where the dwelling house is a flat and the tenant enjoyed, during the secure tenancy, the use in common with others of any premises, facilities or services, the lease shall include rights to the like enjoyment, so far as the landlord is capable of granting them, unless otherwise agreed between the landlord and the tenant.

Covenants by the landlord.

14 (1) This paragraph applies where the dwelling-house is a flat.

(2) There are implied covenants by the landlord—

(a) to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house and of the building in which it is situated (including drains, gutters and external pipes) and to make good any defect affecting that structure;

(b) to keep in repair any other property over or in respect of which the tenant has rights by virtue of this Schedule;

(c) to ensure, so far as practicable, that services which are to be provided by the landlord and to which the tenant is entitled (whether by himself or in common with others) are maintained at a reasonable level and to keep in repair any installation connected with the provision of those services;

but subject to paragraph 15(3) (restrictions where landlord’s interest is leasehold).

(3) The covenant to keep in repair implied by sub-paragraph (2)(a) includes a requirement that the landlord shall rebuild or reinstate the dwelling-house and the building in which it is situated in the case of destruction or damage by fire, tempest, flood or any other cause against the risk of which it is normal practice to insure.

(4) The county court may, by order made with the consent of the parties, authorise the inclusion in the lease or in an agreement collateral to it of provisions excluding or modifying the obligations of the landlord under the covenants implied by this paragraph, if it appears to the court that it is reasonable to do so.

15 (1) This paragraph applies where the landlord’s interest in the dwelling-house is leasehold.

(2) There is implied a covenant by the landlord to pay the rent reserved by the landlord’s lease and, except in so far as they fall to be discharged by the tenant, to discharge its obligations under the covenants contained in that lease.

(3) A covenant implied by virtue of paragraph 14 (implied covenants where dwelling-house is a flat) shall not impose on the landlord an obligation which the landlord is not entitled to discharge under the provisions of the landlord’s lease or a superior lease.

(4) Where the landlord’s lease or a superior lease, or an agreement collateral to the landlord’s lease or a superior lease, contains a covenant by a person imposing obligations which, but for sub-paragraph (3), would be imposed by a covenant implied by virtue of paragraph 14, there is implied a covenant by the landlord to use its best endeavours to secure that that person’s obligations under the first-mentioned covenant are discharged.

Covenant by tenant.

16 Unless otherwise agreed between the landlord and the tenant, there is implied a covenant by the tenant—

(a) where the dwelling-house is a house, to keep the dwelling-house in good repair (including decorative repair);

(b) where the dwelling-house is a flat, to keep the interior of the dwelling-house in such repair.

Avoidance of certain provisions.

17 (1) A provision of the lease, or of an agreement collateral to it, is void in so far as it purports to prohibit or restrict the assignment of the lease or the subletting, wholly or in part, of the dwelling-house.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) has effect subject to section 157 (restriction on disposal of dwelling-houses in National Parks, etc.).

18 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, where the dwelling-house is a flat, a provision of the lease or of an agreement collateral to it is void in so far as it purports—

(a) to enable the landlord to recover from the tenant any part of costs incurred by the landlord in discharging or insuring against the obligations imposed by the covenants implied by virtue of paragraph 14(2)(a) or (b) (landlord’s obligations with respect to repair of dwelling-house, etc.), or

(b) to enable any person to recover from the tenant any part of costs incurred, whether by him or by another person, in discharging or insuring against any obligations to the like effect as the obligations which would be so imposed but for paragraph 15(3) (obligations not to be implied which landlord would not be entitled to discharge).

(2) A provision is not void by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) in so far as it requires the tenant to bear a reasonable part of the costs of carrying out repairs not amounting to the making good of structural defects.

(3) A provision is not void by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) in so far as it requires the tenant to bear a reasonable part of costs incurred in respect of a structural defect—

(a) of the existence of which the landlord informed the tenant in the notice under section 125 (landlord’s notice of purchase price, etc.), stating the landlord’s estimate of the amount (at current prices) which would be payable by the tenant towards the cost of making it good, or

(b) of the existence of which the landlord becomes aware ten years or more after the grant of the lease.

(4) Where the lease acknowledges the right of the tenant and his successors in title to production of the relevant policy, a provision is not void by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) in so far as it requires the tenant to bear a reasonable part of the costs of insuring against risks involving such repairs or the making good of such defects.

(5) Any estimated amount stated as mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(a) (estimate of costs to be borne by tenant in respect of structural defect) shall be disregarded for the purposes of any statement under section 125(4) (estimate of service charges payable).

19 A provision of the lease, or of an agreement collateral to it, is void in so far as it purports to authorise a forfeiture, or to impose on the tenant a penalty or disability, in the event of his enforcing or relying on the preceding provisions of this Schedule.