Right to apply for relief after forfeiture by peaceable re-entry

A tenant’s right to apply for relief from forfeiture begins when the landlord serves notice (under CPO, s58, LPA 1925, s.146(1)) and ends once the landlord has taken possession pursuant to a judgment ordering that he be given possession. A tenant has a right to apply for relief even after a peaceable re-entry.

In Billson v Residential Apartments Ltd ([1992] 1 AC 494, HL) T, in breach of covenant, carried out alteration works at the property. L served a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (equivalent to section 58 of the Conveyancing and Property Ordinance). T showed no sign of complying and L then effected a peaceable re-entry. T sought relief pursuant to section 146(2) (in the same terms as section 58(2) of the Conveyancing and Property Ordinance). This allows T to seek relief , ‘Where a lessor is proceeding, by action or otherwise, to enforce such a right of re-entry or forfeiture’. L argued that it was no longer proceeding to enforce the right; it had enforced it through its peaceable re-entry. The argument failed. Tenants have a right to apply for relief in these circumstances. A tenant’s right to apply for relief from forfeiture begins when the landlord serves notice (under CPO, s58, LPA 1925, s.146(1)) and ends once the landlord has taken possession pursuant to a judgment ordering that he be given possession. A tenant has a right to apply for relief even after a peaceable re-entry.

Questions of statutory interpretation aside, the House of Lords clearly wanted to promote ‘the civilised method’ and discourage ‘a dubious and dangerous method of determining the lease’ (per Lord Templeman at 536).