Leasehold Conveyancing - Leasehold rights to be found in a Lease

If the a leasehold property forms part only of the area owned by the Landlord it is necessary for the Landlord to grant in the Lease rights for the benefit of the Property. A conveyancing lawyer would be expect to check for such rights.

These rights should include all rights of way necessary to give access to the Property including rights over common access areas and services, together with the right to enter neighbouring premises if necessary to repair the Property. 

The Lease should specify that you will be able to enjoy the usual and necessary rights in connection with the use and occupation of the Property.

Normally parties are not obliged to do particular things unless there is a specific Clause in the Lease stating that they must do so. There are however exceptions to this general rule (an Act of Parliament can, for example, override the written terms of a Lease) and there may be some rights which are implied into a Lease even though they are not specifically included in it. Generally they are only implied into Leases if they are either absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of the Flat or are considered to be so obvious that everyone would have included them in the Lease if they had thought about them at the time the Lease was granted. Some well established implied rights include

• The right to support - the Landlord cannot demolish or neglect the lower floors if this means that the Tenant's flat on an upper floor will collapse.
• Access through the hall, lift, stairs, drive and entrance - a Landlord cannot do anything which stops or makes it substantially more difficult for the Tenant to get into the flat.
• The right to the continuation of existing main services - a Landlord cannot do anything that leads to the disconnection of existing mains services such as gas, water, electricity, telephone etc..