Assignment of Leases (Lockharts guidance)
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.
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