Lease Variations

Supporting change for both landlords and their leaseholders

In some instances, it may be appropriate to create a Deed of Variation to a lease for either or both parties in order to rectify identified flaws in drafting, where circumstances change, or as part of an agreed remedy to a Breach of Covenant.

With current proposals on leasehold reform and further legislative change, it is becoming increasingly common for one or more of the parties to a lease to seek an amendment to the terms of an existing lease. This is particularly prevalent at present with regard to what some parties consider to be onerous ground rent provisions. We have acted for a number of clients in respect of amending ground rent provisions on large scale developments and portfolios.

A lease variation may be made by agreement between parties or by application to the First-tier Tribunal; JB Leitch Real Estate Limited can advise you in either case and carry out the whole process from start to finish.

Examples of recent variations our experienced team have completed include:

• Amending the ground rent provision of a large number of leases on a development from a 10-year doubling ground increase to a 10-year ground rent increase linked to RPI
• Amending the demise of a leasehold property to include the loft space which had been incorrectly omitted from the original drafting of the lease (this amounted to a surrender and regrant of the lease)
• Amending the incorrect reference to a numbered parking space which did not mirror the space as detailed on the lease plan