Direct deeds of covenant: not worth the paper that they are written on, says Nicholas Roberts
Leasehold conveyancing is in its nature already a complicated matter, so why do some practitioners persist in retaining a complication that at best is a waste of time, and at worst suggests a failure to understand the current law? The complication referred to is the covenant still to be found in many long residential leases for an assignee to enter into a deed of covenant with the landlord, and (if applicable) the management company, whether this is a genuine residents’ management company (RMC), controlled by the leaseholders, or a company which is the alter ego of the landlord.
Pre-1996
In the case of leases granted prior to 1996, when the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995) took effect, such deeds of covenant do serve some useful purpose. Although the general principles of the law on privity of estate would have ensured that assignees would automatically have been liable on the tenant’s covenants (and able to sue on the landlord’s), the position of RMCs under tripartite leases was
