TENANTS' RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL

HL Deb 12 May 1988 vol 496 cc1355-6WA

Lord Coleraine

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will introduce legislation to extend the tenants' right of first refusal in Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 to those tenants who are not qualifying tenants because their tenancies are expressed to include parts of the common passages, staircases and the like, of the building.

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Caithness)

We have no plans to do so. Section 3(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 is intended to prevent tenants who are intermediate landlords from taking advantage of the right of first refusal. There is no simple way of distinguishing between such tenants and other tenants whose interest in a property which contains flats goes wider than an individual flat because it is expressed so as to include common passages and staircases.