LegalAI[Space]

Real estate · Real estate fee-earner, asset manager, in-house property counsel

Handle a licence to assign consent request

A tenant of Ellingham Estates has applied to assign a warehouse lease to a company incorporated four months ago. The landlord has a duty to respond in a reasonable time, and the run works out what conditions can properly be imposed.

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Agents
Research, Contract
First draft
A reasoned position and a draft decision letter arrive from one run, inside the statutory clock.

The problem

The statutory duty converts delay into a claim, and a landlord who says nothing while waiting for accounts is already exposed. The lease may set out circumstances in which consent can be refused and conditions that can be imposed, but those only help if someone reads them before writing the letter. A refusal on a ground not stated at the time is very hard to defend later.

  1. Step 01 of 05

    Open the matter with the clock running

    The date the tenant's application was received goes on the matter as the key date, with the lease, the application, the proposed assignee's accounts and the guarantor's details uploaded.

    Matters · Project Halcyon · SPA warranties and disclosureOpen

    Project Halcyon: SPA warranties and disclosure

    Buy-side warranty review, disclosure analysis and cited due-diligence grid.

    Client
    Halcyon Bidco Ltd
    Reference
    WC-2026-0412
    Practice area
    Corporate / M&A
    Jurisdiction
    England and Wales
    Responsible partner
    E. Vance
    No conflict check on file.

    Chat, on this matter

    Compare warranties with the disclosure letter.

    Three high-priority exceptions require action: the unregistered charge, the change-of-control right and the tribunal claim.

    Send a message… (@ to mention tools)BalancedPrepare for
    1. 25 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Chat

    2. 21 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Run · completed · 560 credits

    3. 18 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Disclosure Letter

      Document · indexed

    4. 16 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Share Purchase Agreement

      Document · indexed

    5. 4 Aug

      Matter opened

      Opened

  2. Step 02 of 05

    Read the alienation covenant

    Prepare for: Standard. The agent sets out the circumstances the lease specifies for refusal, the conditions it permits, and whether the proposed assignee falls within any of them.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted
    6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we looked

    Senior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review

    Summary

    1. 1.

      Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh

      The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.

      Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32
    2. 2.

      Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh

      Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.

      UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9
    3. 3.

      Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh

      The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.

      Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A

  3. Step 03 of 05

    Test the reasonableness position

    A chat question on whether a four-month-old company with a parent guarantee is a reasonable ground for refusal returns a balanced answer with the authorities behind it.

    Matters · 14 Rowan Court, Flat 9 · ResearchSources ranked
    Matter: 14 Rowan CourtEngland and WalesResearch Agent
     
    Prepare for: Court-Ready · Deliver as: Word

    Where we looked

    • 1Your documentsLease, demand, correspondence
    • 2Primary law3 statutes, 1 judgment
    • 3Regulators and the recordNothing needed
    • 4Web searchOff for this question

    Authorities · 4

    • 1

      Law of Property Act 1925, s 146

      c 20
      not yet checked
    • 2

      Housing Act 1996, s 81

      c 52
      not yet checked
    • 3

      Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s 168

      c 15
      not yet checked
    • 4

      Escalus Properties Ltd v Robinson

      [1996] QB 231 (CA)
      not yet checked

  4. Step 04 of 05

    Draft the decision letter

    The letter grants consent subject to an authorised guarantee agreement and a rent deposit, stating every reason at the time rather than reserving them.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted
    6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we looked

    Senior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review

    Summary

    1. 1.

      Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh

      The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.

      Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32
    2. 2.

      Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh

      Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.

      UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9
    3. 3.

      Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh

      The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.

      Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A

  5. Step 05 of 05

    Sign off inside the clock

    The partner ticks the items, checks the two authorities and confirms the letter goes out well inside a reasonable period from the application.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted

    • Replace the UK/Ireland/EU non-compete with a 3 to 6 month restriction tied to competing corporate-law work.

    • Replace blanket data consent with a lawful-basis clause and a separate monitoring notice.

    • Remove the five-day carry-over cap and reference the statutory carry-over rules.

    • Narrow the client non-solicit to clients dealt with in the final 12 months.

    • Add an explicit working-time opt-out withdrawal mechanism.

    • Confirm the bonus clause states the discretion is exercised in good faith.

What comes back

A document, not a transcript.

  • The circumstances and conditions the lease itself specifies, quoted, with the assignee measured against each.
  • A reasoned position on the conditions that can properly be attached, and the one that cannot.
  • A draft decision letter that states every ground at the time it is given.
  • Action items covering the guarantee documentation and the deposit deed that need to follow.

Authorities it checks

  • Landlord and Tenant Act 1988, s 1
  • Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, s 19(1)(a)
Every source it may cite

What it does not do

  • It does not decide whether the landlord wants this assignee; it sets out what can lawfully be required.
  • It does not verify the assignee's accounts or run a credit check on the guarantor.
  • It does not serve the decision letter, which goes out from the fee-earner in the usual way.

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