{"id":1495,"date":"2016-08-03T14:48:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T14:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:05:13","slug":"letting-your-flat-might-not-be-as-easy-as-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/letting-your-flat-might-not-be-as-easy-as-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting your flat might not be as easy as you think!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bailii.org\/uk\/cases\/UKUT\/LC\/2016\/325.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roundlistic Ltd v Jones<\/a>, the Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber) considered whether a covenant in a lease prevented a tenant from granting an underlease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The covenant in question said that the tenants could not \u201c\u2026use the premises hereby demised or permit the same to be used for any purpose whatsoever other than as a single private dwelling house in the occupation of the Lessee and his family.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As above, after having decided to work abroad, the tenants sublet the property for twelve months. The landlord declared that the tenants were in breach and issued proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). However, the FTT held that the landlord was not entitled to enforce the covenant because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the landlord was prevented from doing so by an estoppel by convention, and the covenant would not be enforced;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>that the landlord had waived its right to enforce the covenant; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>that the covenant amounted to an unfair contract term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the landlord successfully appealed the FTT\u2019s decision in the Upper Tribunal and won the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-in-short\">In short<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Leases tend to be full of dos and don\u2019ts, and there is always a provision relating to permitted use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your lease may contain a similar restrictive covenant to that outlined in Roundlistic Ltd v Jones, and if your freeholder (landlord) sees that your flat is occupied by persons other than yourself or your family, he is likely to tell you that you are in breach of your lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-resolution\">Resolution<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This issue could be resolved by varying the terms of your lease and removing\/changing those \u2018awkward\u2019 clause(s) preventing you from sub-letting. However, there is usually a price to pay, as deeds of variation rarely come free of charge unless you\u2019re incredibly lucky!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-trick\">The trick<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Think ahead and save costs. Even if you\u2019re not considering renting out your flat but simply wish to extend the term of your lease, check that you are not restricted from sub-letting and negotiate any \u2018old fashioned\u2019 restrictions from your lease at the same time as your lease is extended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Call us today for advice on letting your property today. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Note: This article is not legal advice; it provides information of general interest about current legal issues.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve chosen to work abroad for the next couple of years. You\u2019ve decided to rent your flat out whilst you\u2019re away. Friends in the same position have done this &#8211; apparently, it\u2019s easy! However, a recent case might make this more of a problem than you expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-story","tag-residential-property"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letting your flat might not be as easy as you think! | RIAA Barker Gillette UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You\u2019ve chosen to work abroad for two years. You\u2019ve decided letting your flat out whilst you\u2019re away is a good idea. Friends have done this...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/letting-your-flat-might-not-be-as-easy-as-you-think\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letting your flat might not be as easy as you think!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You\u2019ve chosen to work abroad for two years. You\u2019ve decided letting your flat out whilst you\u2019re away is a good idea. 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