Forfeiture and re-entry

Where a commercial lease carries a right of re-entry for non-payment of rent, the landlord can forfeit the lease by re-entering the premises peaceably, without a court order. For any other breach, section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 requires a notice to the tenant first, and the right cannot be enforced until that notice has been served. Premises let as a dwelling cannot be re-entered at all without court proceedings while anyone is lawfully living there, under section 2 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. I tell you which of these you are in before anything is done.

Re-entry ends the lease, so it has to be done properly. It is carried out with a locksmith, the locks are changed, a notice of re-entry goes on the door, the contents are inventoried, and the whole attendance is recorded so that it stands up if the tenant applies to the court for relief from forfeiture.

Afterwards comes the correspondence: the former tenant's goods, the sub-tenants, the guarantor, the arrears that remain. I handle that on the same instruction.