Renting Homes: The Final Report - Law Commission

6.48 The right to ask to exchange an occupation contract extends to all secure
contracts made by community landlords. 67 All such contracts have a fundamental
term that the contract-holder may seek to transfer the contract to another person.
The other person must also be a contract-holder under a secure contract from a
community landlord who, immediately before the transfer, will cease to be the
contract-holder under that contract. 68 No transfer can take place without the
consent of the landlord. 69
Transfer of fixed term standard contracts
6.49 Where parties enter into a fixed term contract, their contractual obligations
persist, unless the contract provides otherwise, for the full term of the contract. In
some cases, peoples’ circumstances may change. Thus the contract itself may
enable the parties to escape from their obligations in defined circumstances. Any
such provision will have to be agreed between the landlord and the contractholders.
They will not arise from any statutory fundamental or supplementary
provision. A landlord who agrees to the inclusion of such a clause is entitled to
make any escape route from the contract subject to their giving consent.
6.50 The Bill contains two provisions that relate to these possible circumstances.
(1) A fixed term standard contract may provide that if there are joint contractholders,
one or more of them may require the other joint contractholder(s)
to join in a transfer of the contract to another person. 70 In such
a case, the joint contract-holder(s) wishing to transfer the contract may
seek a court order that the other contract-holders join in the transfer. 71
The court may make such order as it thinks fit. 72
(2) A fixed term standard contract may provide that a joint contract-holder
may transfer their rights and obligations under the contract to another,
without joining all the other joint contract-holders. 73 In such a case, the
contract must provide that such a transfer may not be made unless the
transferor gives notice of the proposed transfer to the other joint contractholders.
74 This is to prevent any change in the liabilities of the remaining
joint contract-holders occurring without notice. Furthermore, the
transferee is not entitled to occupy the premises without the consent of
the other joint contract-holders. 75
67 Community landlord is defined at cl 226.
68 Cl 132(2).
69 Cl 132(1).
70 Cl 134(1).
71 Cl 134(2).
72 Cl 134(3).
73 Cl 135(1).
74 Cl 135(2).
75 Cl 135(3).
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