Mark Sefton QC & Cecily Crampin discuss alienation, the residential user & Airbnb.
- A recent case on appeal in the county court at Central London has extended the authorities on covenants in long residential leases likely to be breached by Airbnb use.
- In Bermondsey Exchange Freeholders Limited v Koumetto such use breached a covenant against parting with possession or permitting occupation by a third party, and a covenant requiring use as a residential flat.
The rise of Airbnb and similar platforms, and their use by long leaseholders of flats, has led to landlord concerns of degradation in the condition of blocks of flats, and complaints by more permanent residents. The courts and tribunals have thus seen many cases with landlords arguing such use is a breach of lease. The issue, in most such cases, is whether alienation and user covenants often drafted long prior to the emergence of Airbnb are sufficiently wide to prohibit Airbnb use.
The first reported case on the issue was Nemcova v Fairfield Rents Ltd [2016] UKUT 303 (LC). In that case, the Upper Tribunal found that
