Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Landlords allowed to recover costs incurred when considering application for consent to sublet
Wed 08 Feb 2012
Landlords who look to their applicant tenant to reimburse the costs they incur when considering an application for consent to sublet are entitled to do so, it has been ruled.
The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has recently been required to address this issue in the Holding and Management (Solitaire) Ltd v Norton and Bradmoss Ltd, Re 10 Meadow Court case.
Although the actual size of the charge was not on the agenda, it was determined a landlord is within their rights to recoup their losses after agreeing to sublet to a tenant.
This is permissible even if there is no clause in the lease concerning this particular issue.
Mark Vinall, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors specialising in enfranchisement and leasehold property matters, commented: "The recovery of landlord's costs is a thorny issue as the contract between the parties, the lease, is often quiet or even silent on the issue.
"In this case the Upper Tribunal has clarified that landlords in receipt of an application by their tenant to sublet are able to recover the costs they incur in that regard even if the lease says nothing on the issue.
"This follows recent decisions that have strengthened the ability for landlords to recover costs from individual defaulting flat owners where their leases contain form of costs recovery clause that did not anticipate modern enforcement requirements and, where they are not good for the money, from all flat owners as a service charge item. This trend is reducing the drag on the landlord’s return on their investment."
