united-kingdom contract-law residential-lease real-estate landlord
Can leasehold contracts be amended, and is this a common practice in UK?
<p>I have recently asked <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/1939/assignment-and-subletting-of-leasehold-in-uk">following question</a> around leasehold contract in property I am in the process of buying. It states that I am not allowed to sublet parts of building I can only sublet it as a whole (can't rent it out room by room). Which ruins my plans as I intended to live in couple of rooms and rent out the other two.</p>

<p>I have glanced over the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9432/leaflet.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Residential Long Leaseholders A guide to your rights and responsibilities</a> and couldn't find a section about doing changes or renegotiating existing leasehold contracts, only rights of buying lease of from freeholder which would be an option, but can become more hassle than it's worth (I would have to team up with the other leaseholder). </p>

<p>Other option would be to try negotiate with existing landlord to amend leasehold contract (in exchange for some additional payment or agreement to invest certain amount of money in property). I couldn't find any resource on how such negotiations are being done, nor examples of such re-negotiations, or things proposed and such.</p>

<p><strong>Can leasehold contracts be amended, and is this a common practice?</strong> What are regulations around this? </p>

<p>Any help or resource to existing cases and common practices would be much appreciated, I would like to prepare well and know my options before I start talking to landlord. </p>

<p>After some further browsing I managed to <a href="https://www.rocketlawyer.com/document/lease-amendment.rl" rel="nofollow">find a form for contract amendments</a>, so such practice does exist.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8011495_can-landlord-amend-lease-agreement.html" rel="nofollow">Found following here</a></p>

<p>Amending a Contract</p>

<p>The amendment of a contract must be an agreement between the landlord and the tenant. A contract cannot simply be changed or altered by the landlord alone once both parties have signed and agreed to the existing terms. If the landlord wants to change rules and regulations regarding the space in question, he/she must create a lease amendment and present it to the tenant. The tenant can then choose to sign it and agree to the changes or choose to neglect the changes and remain in the existing contract. If this happens, the landlord must wait until the contract is up to change the terms.</p>

<p>Governing Law or Jurisdiction</p>

<p>The amending of a lease contract must be done so according to the laws and regulations in place in the jurisdiction in which the property is located. The original lease agreement should mention the name of the governing jurisdiction, so the tenant knows what laws and regulations the landlord follows. The tenant can contact the local district office for more information about the legal requirements needed for the landlord to amend the agreement.</p>

<p>Read small print</p>

<p>If the landlord states he/she is allowed to amend the leasing contract, he/she may have added a clause in the lease agreement that allows him/her to amend the agreement without your consent. Read the small print of the contract to see if this is so. If the agreement states the landlord is allowed to amend the contract without your approval, and you have signed the contract, the landlord can amend it as desired since you have given your consent by signing.</p>

<p>Amendment Agreement</p>

<p>If the landlord wants to amend the existing agreement, but has not included a clause or small print about amending the contract, he/she needs to write an amendment agreement as part of the existing contract. The amendment agreement outlines the changes that need to be made to the original contract. It should state that the landlord and tenant agree to the amendment. Both parties need to sign the amendment and date it accordingly. The amended terms should be added to the existing contract.</p>
