Menu Home Search

Assignment of Leases (Lockharts guidance)

Updated on Friday, 27 February 2015, 1368 views

Assignment of Leases

The partners in a GP practice with leasehold premises who are the partners holding the lease, i.e. named on the lease and, in the case of registered land, the registered proprietors shown on the title register at Land Registry, must, subject as below, seek Landlord’s (the freeholder) consent to a transfer/an assignment of the lease if they wish to be removed, i.e. upon say a retirement or sale. The leaseholder must pay all of the Landlord’s costs in the grant of consent.

The terms of the lease must be consulted for the exact requirements for the grant of Landlord’s consent. Generally, consent is not to be unreasonably withheld by the Landlord, but the lease will set out a number of conditions that must be fulfilled. The Landlord is under certain statutory duties to act reasonably in the giving of consent.

A modern GP surgery lease should contain an exception to the above in the case of there being not less than 2 remaining GPs holding the lease following the assignment/transfer. Generally, in such leases it is not necessary to seek Landlord’s consent. Notice following transfer must be given to the Landlord. 

Therefore, if there are 3 GP partners holding a modern surgery lease containing the usual assignment clause as above, then there can be a transfer/assignment of the lease from 3 to 2 without Landlord’s consent.

There are many GP surgery leases which do not contain these provisions and accord with the assignment requirements in standard commercial leases where Landlord’s consent must be obtained for any transfer/assignment.

[Stephen Carter] The writer Stephen Carter is an Associate Solicitor at Lockharts Solicitors and can be contacted directly at sac@lockharts.co.uk.

All general medical law enquiries should be directed to csd@lockharts.co.uk. Alternatively, please contact us on 0207 383 7111 or by visiting our website www.lockharts.co.uk.

[Text Box: Copyright Lockharts 2015. All rights reserved.] Disclaimer: The content of this article is only intended as information and should not be considered to be legal advice. Lockharts cannot be held liable for any loss caused by any act or omission as a result of the information in this article.

Related guidance...

Template lease for GP premises

Things you need to know and actions you need to take The template lease download here The template lease has been developed to cover a...

LEASE UPDATE ISSUED BY GPC IN CONJUNCTION WITH BMA LAW & NHS PROPERTY SERVICES

GPC is aware that some practices are being sent correspondence from their respective landlords which either contain 'Heads of Terms' (in...

Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 16th October 2015

All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and Previous updates can be found here Practice Collaboration FAQ Men ACWY for...

Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 2nd March 2018

All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers Communication, Communication, Communication the latest Blog from LMC Chairman Dr Nick Bray “Last...

Transgender Patients/Gender Reassignment

Gender Identity toolkit: The toolkit has been produced in collaboration between the Institute of General Practice Management, Indigo...

Disclosing patient information without consent

Disclosing patient information without consent- A precis of GMC advice You must disclose information if it is required by statute or if...

Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 13th May 2016

All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and Previous updates can be found in full here Somerset GP Provider...

Sudden Death on GP Premises

Beyond the immediate clinical need of a patient - if a patient is declared dead on the premises how should you proceed? If the death is...

Retention of Medical Records

It is not possible to be absolutely prescriptive on these matters but the following information should give some basic...

Certification - Parachute Jumps

The golden rule here is only to sign a form that you are happy with. If the wording is to broad or some sections suggest you have...