How to File Freeholder Consent Before You Underlet a Leasehold Flat

The alienation clause — the wording in the long lease that deals with underletting — has not been copied into the file, and it has no label. Before a leasehold flat in England or Wales is advertised, write whether this lease bans underletting, allows it, or allows it with consent. Where the words require consent, the file also needs a dated request to the person the lease names, proof that request was sent, and the written consent, the written refusal, or the written conditions. A phone “that’s fine” and a ground-rent receipt may already be to hand. Neither is that written decision.

The service-charge and ground-rent payment folder, written consent for the tenant to alter the flat, and the email to the buildings insurer about occupancy are different papers. This file is for a long lease of a flat in England or Wales. If the letting is outside that, including a Welsh occupation contract, it is a different consent.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

A receipt and a phone call are not the decision

Underletting here means letting the flat to someone else under the long lease. The phone call does not label the clause, and the ground-rent receipt does not record a decision on that letting.

A ground-rent receipt shows that ground rent was paid. It stays with the demands and the payments in the service-charge and ground-rent file. It does not say that an underletting was consented to, refused, or allowed on conditions.

Written consent for the tenant to alter the flat, or to do the work, is a different letter, kept on the alterations consent file. The message that tells the buildings insurer the flat is empty or let again is a different paper, kept with the occupancy note to the insurer. A mortgage lender’s consent, where the lender asks for one, is a different letter too.

The label is read from this lease

The label comes from the words on this lease. LEASE, the government-funded leasehold advice service, last updated its subletting page on 22 December 2025. It describes three readings: the lease might prohibit subletting, allow it, or allow it only with the landlord’s written permission. That written permission is often called a licence to underlet. The same page says a clause may allow only the whole of the flat, may put conditions in the licence, or may say whether a part — a parking space or a garage the lease includes with the flat — needs permission.

Other lines on the same lease can still restrict a letting. “Not to part with possession” normally bans subletting completely, including short lets. “Private residence only” normally bans short-term or holiday lets, and “single-family occupation only” normally bans unrelated sharers. A shared-ownership lease usually does not allow subletting, though a lodger can be a different question, so read that lease.

Copy those words into the file, including any line that one consent does not cover the next letting, and write one label from them. A general claim that leases usually allow subletting is not a reading of this lease. If the pages say nothing about underletting, LEASE’s advice is to take professional legal advice, and the note is that no underletting covenant was found. That note is not the label “allowed”.

The letter starts only when the label is allowed with consent

The steps below run only for that one label. Section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 applies in England and Wales where the lease says the flat must not be assigned, underlet, charged, or parted with without consent, and that consent is not to be unreasonably withheld. A bare ban, with no consent wording, is outside that section. The person who may consent is the person the covenant names.

Once the written application is served on that person, the duty is to give consent unless it is reasonable not to, and to serve written notice of the decision within a reasonable time. If consent is subject to conditions, the notice states the conditions. If consent is withheld, the notice states the reasons. The Act does not treat silence, a phone call, or a receipt for ground rent as that notice, and it does not state a number of days. LEASE says there is no set definition of a reasonable timeframe because it depends on the circumstances, and that it will usually be days or weeks rather than months. That wording is not a number of days.

The 14 days in section 168 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 are a pause after a breach of a long lease of a dwelling has been admitted or finally determined, before a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925, and they are not the time for answering a consent request.

If a sum appears at all, it is the figure written in this lease or on the written decision, not a national tariff, because section 144 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and section 19(1)(a) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 set no amount: unless the lease expressly says otherwise, no fine is payable for the consent, and a reasonable sum for the costs of the consent is not ruled out.

If the decision is later questioned, section 1(6) of the 1988 Act puts the burden on the person who owed the duty to show that consent was given within a reasonable time, that a condition was reasonable or that refusal was reasonable, and that the written notice was served within a reasonable time. A breach of a duty under the Act can be the subject of civil proceedings in the same way as a claim in tort for breach of statutory duty, under section 4. Keep the notice in the file.

The National Residential Landlords Association, in a guide published on 27 July 2026, says to document correspondence with the freeholder, including written consent, and to check whether written permission is needed for each new sublet. Address the request to the person the lease names. If the person who receives it believes someone else may consent, section 2 of the 1988 Act requires reasonable steps to pass a copy on within a reasonable time. Where the lease is silent on service, section 5(2) points to section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927.

The file is complete when it holds the written consent, the written refusal, or the written conditions, together with the dated request and the proof it was sent, before the flat is advertised. A ground-rent receipt does not fill that slot. If the label is banned, the file stops at that label and the flat is not advertised. IziRento stores the clause label, the dated request, the send proof, and the written decision. It does not read the lease, send the request, or grant consent.