Section 26 request explained

What the request does

Section 26 lets the tenant, rather than the landlord, start the renewal clock. The request must be in the prescribed form, set out the tenant's proposals for the property, the rent, the duration and the other terms, and specify the date on which the new tenancy is to begin. The current tenancy ends immediately before that date.

Only a tenant holding under a lease granted for a term of years certain exceeding one year can make a request. A tenant holding over on a periodic tenancy cannot.

The landlord's counter-notice

If the landlord wants to oppose, it must serve a counter-notice within two months of the request, stating every section 30 ground relied on. Miss that window and the landlord cannot oppose the grant of a new tenancy at all — the argument becomes purely about terms and rent.

When serving first is an advantage

Timing is the point. Because the tenant chooses the commencement date, a section 26 request can pull renewal forward into a soft market or push it back where rents are rising, and it fixes the valuation date for section 34 purposes. It also flushes out the landlord's intentions early, through the two-month counter-notice.

The risks are real too. A request invites a landlord who had not yet focused on redevelopment to consider it, and it cannot be withdrawn. If the landlord opposes and proves a ground, the tenancy will end — earlier than it might otherwise have done. Do not serve one before deciding you genuinely want a new lease.

After the request

Negotiate the proposed terms; if agreement is not reached, either party may apply to the court before the day before the proposed commencement date. As with section 25, that deadline can only be extended by written agreement made before it passes. Interim rent can be applied for by either side once a request has been made.