Renting Homes: The Final Report - Law Commission

(1) If there is only one priority successor, that person succeeds. 32
(2) If there are two or more priority successors, they can agree who the new
contract-holder(s) shall be. If they cannot agree, or do not notify the
landlord of an agreement within a reasonable time, the landlord selects
the new contract-holder(s). 33
(3) If all those qualified are reserve successors, they can agree who the new
contract-holder(s) shall be. If they cannot agree, or do not notify the
landlord of an agreement within a reasonable time, the landlord selects
the new contract-holder(s). 34
Where the landlord has made a selection, those not accepted may appeal to the
court within four weeks from the date of the selection. 35 The court must determine
the appeal on the merits and not simply by way of review. 36
Effect of succession
7.28 A successor who was the only person qualified to succeed, or the only priority
successor (where the other persons qualified to succeed were reserve
successors), becomes entitled to the rights and subject to the obligations under
the contract, from the relevant date. 37 A new contract-holder selected by
agreement among the qualified successors or by the landlord becomes entitled to
the rights and subject to the obligations under the contract from either the
relevant date, or the day of the agreement or landlord’s selection, whichever is
later. 38
7.29 We have decided to make succession automatic where there is a single
successor to improve certainty for all parties and because we felt it would deal
most easily and efficiently with the overwhelming majority of situations. However,
we recognise that there may be problems with automatically vesting the contract:
the potential successor may not wish to become a contract-holder; there may be
more than one potential successor and they may not wish to take on the contract
jointly; or the priority successor may not wish to become a contract-holder whilst
a potential reserve successor does. In the first of these cases, the successor can
terminate the contract if they do not wish to be bound by it. We have provided
mechanisms to deal with the other two potential difficulties.
32 Cl 143(2).
33 Cl 143(3).
34 Cl 143(4).
35 Cls 143(5) to (7).
36 Cl 143(8).
37 Cl 147(1). The relevant date is the day on which the contract would have ended under
clause 159 if no-one had been qualified to succeed. The date the contract would have
ended if no-one had been qualified to succeed is one month after the contract-holder’s
death, or if earlier, the date when the landlord was notified of the contract-holder’s death by
authorised persons.
38 Cl 147(2).
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