The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) and its advisory committee member, John Midgley, have been working with MP David Nuttall to introduce a new bill into Parliament.
The bill – known as the Leasehold Reform (Amendment) Bill – is listed for second reading as private members’ business on Friday 22 November. It seeks to tackle an anomaly within the leasehold reform legislation, in respect of the signature of notices.
If passed, it will allow attorneys and/or solicitors to sign notices on behalf of groups of tenants in collective enfranchisement claims or individual tenants in lease extension claims. At present, notices under the provisions of section 13 or section 42 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 must be signed by the tenant personally. Similarly, in relation to the signature of notices by corporate bodies, there is uncertainty as to the capacity in which a company may sign and often notices need to be executed as a deed in order to prevent a challenge to their validity.
Both scenarios create delay for leaseholders in exercising their rights to collective enfranchisement or to a lease extension.
Commenting on the bill, John Midgley, property enfranchisement partner at Seddons Solicitors, said: “This bill seeks to tackle a technical issue that can be frustrating for leaseholders trying to exercise their rights to collective enfranchisement or to a lease extension without unduly affecting landlords in the process. It aims to de-regulate one part of an already highly complicated area of law.
As it is being introduced as a private members’ bill, there are limited opportunities for it to be debated in Parliament and there is no guarantee that it will become law. However, the bill provides a great opportunity to flag up this point and is hopefully the start of a process to simplify the law in this area.”
The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) and its advisory committee member, John Midgley, have been working with MP David Nuttall to introduce a new bill into Parliament. The bill – known as the Leasehold Reform (Amendment) Bill – is listed for second reading as private members’ business on Friday 22 November. It seeks to tackle an anomaly within the leasehold reform legislation, in respect of the signature of notices. If passed, it will allow attorneys and/or solicitors to sign notices on behalf of groups of tenants in collective enfranchisement claims or individual tenants in lease extension claims. At present, notices under the provisions of section 13 or section 42 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 must be signed by the tenant personally. Similarly, in relation to the signature of notices by corporate bodies, there is uncertainty as to the capacity in which a company may sign and often notices need to be executed as a deed in order to prevent a challenge to their validity. Both scenarios create delay for leaseholders in exercising their rights to collective enfranchisement or to a lease extension. Commenting on the bill, John Midgley, property enfranchisement partner at Seddons Solicitors, said: “This bill seeks to tackle a technical issue that can be frustrating for leaseholders trying to exercise their rights to collective enfranchisement or to a lease extension without unduly affecting landlords in the process. It aims to de-regulate one part of an already highly complicated area of law. As it is being introduced as a private members’ bill, there are limited opportunities for it to be debated in Parliament and there is no guarantee that it will become law. However, the bill provides a great opportunity to flag up this point and is hopefully the start of a process to simplify the law in this area.”
