The Leasehold Reform (Notices) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2002

Made: 18th December 2002

Coming into force: 1st January 2003

The National Assembly for Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by section 66 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954[^f00001], and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Leasehold Reform (Notices) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st January 2003.

• (2) These Regulations apply to Wales only.

Amendments

2

In the Schedule to the Leasehold Reform (Notices) Regulations 1997[^f00002]—

• (a) for Form 1, substitute Form 1 in the Schedule to these Regulations; and

• (b) for Form 2, substitute Form 2 in that Schedule.

Application

3

These Regulations shall only apply to cases where a notice under Part 1 of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967[^f00003] (tenant’s notice of desire to have or claim to be entitled to acquire the freehold or an extended lease) was given on or after the date these Regulations come into force.

SCHEDULE

FORM 1

LEASEHOLD REFORM ACT 1967

THE SCHEDULE — PARTICULARS SUPPORTING TENANT'S CLAIM

1

The address of the house.

2

Particulars of the house and premises sufficient to identify the property to which your claim extends. (see Note 4 below)

3

Particulars of the tenancy of the house and premises sufficient to identify the instrument creating the tenancy and to show that the tenancy is and has at the material times been a long tenancy or treated as a long tenancy. (see Note 5 below)

4

Particulars sufficient to show the date on which you acquired the tenancy. (see Note 6 below)

5

• (a) Particulars of the tenancy of the house and premises sufficient to show that the tenancy is and has at the material times been a tenancy at a low rent or treated as a tenancy at a low rent. (see Note 7 below)

6

Particulars of any other long tenancy of the house or a flat forming part of the house held by any tenant. (see Note 9 below)

7

Where either —

• (a) a flat forming part of the house is let to a person who is a qualifying tenant of a flat for the purposes of Chapter 1 or 2 of Part 1 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993; or

• (b) your tenancy is a business tenancy,

the following particulars:

• (i) the periods for which in the last ten years, and since acquiring the tenancy, you have and have not occupied the house as your residence; and

• (ii) during those periods what parts (if any) of the house have not been in your own occupation and for what periods, and

• (iii) what other residence (if any) you have had and for what periods, and which was your main residence. (see Note 10 below)

8

Additional particulars sufficient to show that the value of the house and premises does not exceed the applicable financial limit specified in section 1(1)(a)(i) or (ii), (5) or (6) of the Act. (These are not required where the right to have the freehold is claimed in reliance on any one or more of the provisions in section 1A, 1AA or 1B of the Act, or where the tenancy of the house and premises has been extended under section 14 and the notice under section 8(1) was given (whether by a tenant or a sub-tenant) after the original term date of the tenancy). (see Note 11 below)

9

Additional particulars sufficient to show whether the house and premises are to be valued in accordance with section 9(1) or section 9(1A) of the Act. (These are not required where the right to have the freehold is claimed in reliance on any one or more of the provisions in section 1A, 1AA or 1B of the Act, or where the tenancy of the house and premises has been extended under section 14 and the notice under section 8(1) was given (whether by a tenant or a sub-tenant) after the original term date of the tenancy).

10

Additional particulars where you rely on section 6 (rights of trustees), 6A (rights of personal representatives) or 7 (rights of members of family succeeding to tenancy on death) of the Act. (see Note 12 below)

Notes

10

Particulars of residence and occupation are required in relation to those cases specified in paragraph 7 of the Schedule to this notice (see section 1(1ZB) and (1B) of the Act as inserted, respectively, by sections 138 and 139 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002). The residence requirement in these specified cases is that the tenant has lived in the property as his only or main residence for the last two years or for periods amounting to two years in the last ten years.

11

A claimant who relies on any one or more of the provisions in sections 1A, 1AA or 1B of the Act, (or where the tenancy of the house and premises has been extended under section 14 and the notice under section 8(1) was given (whether by a tenant or a sub-tenant) after the original term date of the tenancy), has the right to have the freehold at a price determined in accordance with section 9(1C) of the Act, but not the right to have an extended lease.

12

• (a) Where the claimant is giving the notice by virtue of section 6, 6A or 7 he is required (Schedule 3, paragraph 6(2)) to adapt the notice and show under paragraphs 4 and 7 of the Schedule to the notice the particulars that bring the claim within section 6, 6A or, as the case may be, section 7.

• (b) Where the tenancy is or was vested in trustees the claimant should, for the purposes of a claim made in reliance on section 6, state the date when the tenancy was acquired by the trustees, and, where the case falls within paragraphs 7(a) or (b) of the Schedule to the notice, the date when the beneficiary occupied the house by virtue of his interest under the trust, and the particulars of any period of occupation by the beneficiary which are relied upon as bringing the case within section 6.

• (c) Section 6A of the Act (inserted by section 142 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002) provides that where a tenant dies and immediately before his death he qualified for the right to enfranchise or a lease extension, those rights can be exercised (up to two years after the date of probate or letters of administration) by his personal representatives. Where the tenancy is vested in personal representatives, they should, for the purposes of making a claim under section 6A, provide evidence that the deceased tenant qualified for the relevant right immediately before his death, state the date when the tenancy became vested in them, and provide evidence to show that probate or letters of administration have been granted no more than two years before the date of the claim for extension of the lease or enfranchisement.

• (d) Where the claimant was a member of the previous tenant’s family and became the tenant on the latter’s death, for the purposes of a claim made in reliance upon section 7, the claimant should state the date on which the previous tenant acquired the tenancy, particulars of his relationship to the previous tenant and his succession to the tenancy, and particulars in respect of any period of occupation by himself on which the claimant relies as bringing the case within section 7.

FORM 2

LEASEHOLD REFORM ACT 1967

THE SCHEDULE — PARTICULARS SUPPORTING TENANT'S CLAIM

Notes

Signed

Signed on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales under section 66(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1998[^f00004].

D. Elis-Thomas — The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly — 18th December 2002

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Leasehold Reform (Notices) Regulations 1997 and provide new forms of notices to be used by tenants applying for enfranchisement and extension of long leaseholds under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. The new forms are to be used for applications made on or after 1st January 2003. Forms which are substantially to the same effect as those prescribed may also be used.

Most of the amendments are consequential on those made to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 by Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 which introduced the following changes to the qualifying rules for enfranchisement and lease extension:

• (i) abolition of the residence test, subject to certain exceptions;

• (ii) a new requirement that the tenant must have held the lease for two years;

• (iii) abolition of the low rent test;

• (iv) the right to buy the freehold within the term of a lease extension;

• (v) new rights and qualifying rules for personal representatives of a deceased leaseholder.

There are also minor drafting amendments.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1954 c. 56. Section 66(1) and (2) was amended by S.I. 1974/1896. Section 66 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is applied to notices under Part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (c. 88) by section 22(5) of that Act. See article 2 of, and Schedule 1 to, the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672).

[^f00002]: S.I. 1997/640.

[^f00003]: 1967 c. 88.

[^f00004]: 1998 c. 38.