This practice note looks at the issues that need to be considered when drafting and negotiating a clause in a commercial lease that sets out the circumstances in which a landlord can forfeit the lease.

For detailed information on the key legal and practical issues which arise where a landlord takes steps to forfeit a lease, including waiver of the right to forfeit and the right to apply for relief from forfeiture, see Practice note, Forfeiture: a practical overview.

Note updated 26 March 2022: This resource should be read in light of the temporary pandemic-related measures that protected tenants and restricted landlords' enforcement options in the period from March 2020 to the end of March 2022, as set out in our Practice note, COVID-19: Coronavirus Act 2020 and the implications for recovering possession, and those that may affect commercial landlords and tenants on and after 26 March 2022, as set out in our Practice note, COVID-19: Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022: rent arbitration and the implications for enforcement.