The Court of Appeal has recently dismissed the landlords' appeal that their purported forfeiture of a lease (after enforcement agents had used the commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR) procedure) had been lawful. The landlord had exercised CRAR to recover rent arrears and costs however, after exercising it, a £3000 debt remained outstanding (due to a bounced cheque). The Landlord purported to forfeit the lease which the tenant argued was an unlawful re-entry. The Court of Appeal agreed and held that the landlords had waived their right of forfeiture by exercising CRAR. The landlords' use of CRAR had contained an unequivocal representation that the lease was continuing and therefore constituted an election by the Landlord not to use its right of forfeiture.
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