Tenant in Breach of Residential Lease — What Can the Landlord Do?

As a landlord, a tenant who breaches their lease (through unpaid service charges, unauthorised alterations, subletting, or nuisance) can leave you facing lost income, damage to the property, and a difficult decision about how far to take enforcement.

This article lists your remedies for a breach of leasehold terms.

We act for residential landlords, freeholders and managing agents across England and Wales dealing with a leaseholder breach. If you want clear advice on your options, contact our specialist property litigation team. Our solicitors act nationally on these issues and we’d love to help you.

Key Takeaways

• Leasehold obligations (often called covenants) are formal responsibilities for landlords and tenants.
• If a tenant breaches a covenant on a long residential lease, there are a range of options for the landlord which include the tenant remedying the breach, paying damages, or forfeiture of the lease.
• Forfeiture is a complex process and typically reserved for repeated breaches or complex cases.
• A tenant can overturn forfeiture if they remedy the breach and pay the landlord’s costs. 

What Counts as a Breach of a Residential Lease

Common Examples: Service Charges, Alterations, Subletting and Nuisance

Common examples of lease breaches include: 

• Altering the property without obtaining the landlord’s consent
• Failing to keep the property in a good state of repair
• Unauthorised subletting or short-term lettings in breach of user or subletting covenants
• Defaulting on ground rent or service charge
• Using the property for a non-residential purpose not permitted by the lease
• Creating a nuisance to other occupiers of the building

Your Options When a Leaseholder Is in Breach

Sending a Formal Notice or Letter Before Action

You must issue a formal notice that the leaseholder has failed to comply with the obligations in their lease. You can follow this with a letter before action indicating that you intend to start legal proceedings if the leaseholder continues the breach. There is a careful balance here between providing the opportunity for the tenant to remedy the breach, and waiving your right to forfeit as explained further below.

Claiming Damages or an Injunction

If the breach has resulted in loss, you can make a claim for damages to recover this. There is also an option to request an injunction from the court to prevent the leaseholder from continuing to commit the breach.

Claiming damages and/or seeking an injunction allow the tenant to correct the breach and continue the lease.

In serious cases, you have the option of forfeiture which means terminating the lease and recovering possession of the property.

Forfeiture: Ending the Lease

Forfeiture can only occur if the lease has a forfeiture or ‘re-entry’ clause. Even where that right exists, you can’t exercise it yourself against a residential occupier. The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 means forfeiture has to be enforced through the court, and attempting to force someone out without a court order is a criminal offence. In terms of tenants, as opposed to lessees, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has amended this to also give local housing authorities the power to impose financial penalties of up to £40,000 as an alternative to criminal prosecution. 

The process of forfeiting a lease is complex and must follow different procedural steps. It’s usually only contemplated in the most serious cases or for repeated breaches.

Even if you obtain forfeiture, a tenant can still apply for ‘relief from forfeiture’ if they remedy any breaches and pay your costs. This restores their lease.

You’ll need specialist legal advice from the outset if you’re considering forfeiting a long lease.

The Section 146 Notice Requirement

A Section 146 Notice is a formal forfeiture notice under the Law of Property Act 1925. There’s no automatic right to apply for an order authorising forfeiture. The tenant must always be given the opportunity to remedy the breach.

Before you can issue a notice, your tenant must have accepted in writing that they’ve breached the terms of the lease, or you’ve applied to a court or tribunal to confirm that a breach has occurred.

You must allow the tenant a reasonable time to put things right. There is no standard definition of ‘reasonable’, so the amount of time will depend on the nature of the breach. However, if involved, a court or tribunal can decide on a timeframe.

If you issue a Section 146 Notice, then it must contain prescribed information although you are free to format this how you wish. This information includes:

• The breach
• A request to put it right if that’s possible
• A request for reasonable compensation

Non-Payment of Rent

It is important to note that forfeiture for non-payment of ground rent (including ground rent and in some cases service charge arrears treated as rent under the lease) follows a different procedure from forfeiture. A Section 146 Notice is not required; instead, the landlord must make a formal demand for payment unless the lease waives this requirement, and then apply to the court. 

The tenant has an automatic right to relief if they pay all arrears and costs before trial, or within a specified period set by the court. 

Why You Need a Determination of Breach First

Without the tenant either admitting the breach of obligations or a determination of breach from a First-tier Tribunal or the court, a Section 146 Notice is not valid.

Waiver and Why Acting Promptly Matters

If you don’t act promptly when you become aware of a breach, your continuing acceptance of the situation could be treated as a waiver of your right to forfeit.

As time passes, you’re also more likely to do something which recognises the lease as continuing even if it’s accidental. A common pitfall is demanding rent after the breach without realising the implications. Rent demands are typically an automatic process.

Waiver operates differently depending on whether the breach is a “once and for all” breach or “continuing” breach. For a continuing breach, a fresh right to forfeit arises each day the breach continues, whilst for a once-and-for-all breach, a single act of waiver may extinguish the right to forfeit for that breach entirely.

It’s important to act promptly in these situations with specialist advice as your guide.

Resolving Breaches Without Going to Court

Breaching a lease doesn’t have to mean court proceedings. The first option is negotiation with the tenant who may be unaware of the breach or the exact nature of their responsibilities.

If negotiations fail, a quicker and more structured route to resolution is mediation. There’s also the option of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) which is a specialist tribunal that operates independently of the court system.

This tribunal handles leasehold disputes and is less formal.

What This Means for Costs and Timescales

Long residential leases have typically allowed landlords to recover litigation costs through the service charge or an administration charge, though the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will restrict this once those provisions come into force.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Landlord Evict a Leaseholder for Breach of Lease?

A landlord can evict a leaseholder for a breach but must give the tenant the opportunity to correct the breach first. With persistent breaches, a landlord can apply to the court to forfeit the lease. Despite this, a tenant may still apply for relief from forfeiture if they remedy the breach and pay the landlord’s costs.

How Long Does the Forfeiture Process Take?

There’s no fixed timeframe. Forfeiture can take well over a year from the initial breach to final eviction, and often longer in contested cases. The exact timeline depends on whether the tenant disputes the breach, the tribunal or court’s availability, and whether they apply for relief from forfeiture.

What Happens If a Leaseholder Ignores a Section 146 Notice?

Ignoring a Section 146 Notice puts the leaseholder at risk of forfeiture and eviction. The notice gives a reasonable period to remedy the breach, and failing to act within that time lets the landlord pursue forfeiture through the court. However, even at this stage the tenant can still apply for relief from forfeiture which may be granted at the discretion of the court.

Can a Breach of Lease Claim Be Settled Without Court Proceedings?

You don’t have to go to court to settle a breach of lease; a breach could be inadvertent or accidental, and the tenant may put it right once they are aware. If you’re in dispute over it, then you can still negotiate, mediate, or consider referral to the First-tier Tribunal.

Acting Early on a Lease Breach Can Protect Your Position as a Landlord

If a tenant breaches their lease obligations, this can have serious consequences not only flowing from the breach but in terms of how you respond to it. Take the wrong action and you could inadvertently waive your rights by doing something as simple as requesting rent.

Acting early and accessing specialist advice is vital and gives you the most options. It will prevent disputes from escalating and protect your rights while you take action to compel the tenant to correct the breach.

We are a team of litigation solicitors with a specialism in residential lease and property disputes throughout England and Wales. Our cost-effective advice clearly sets out the different choices in your situation aligning with your objectives.

If you’re dealing with a leaseholder who is actively committing a breach or there is an ongoing situation and you’re unsure of the next steps to take, speak to our specialist litigation solicitors. Our property litigation team act nationally in these types of disputes and have decades of experience acting in similar matters. We would love to help you.