ABSTRACT
The landlord must have offered either to provide the tenant with, or to secure the provision of, alternative accommodation. There does appear to be some uncertainty about the timing of the landlord’s offer, ie, does it have to have been made before the landlord serves notice on the tenant stating opposition under ground (d), or can the offer be made at the same time as the notice is served? In M Chaplin Ltd v Regent Capital Holdings Ltd [1994] 1 EGLR 249, it was held in the county court that the requirement that the landlord has offered alternative accommodation is satisfied if the offer is made before the issue is joined in the pleadings, namely, before the landlord files its answer. Consequently, the offer did not have to have been made before the landlord served its s 25 notice and an offer made in a covering letter which accompanied the landlord’s s 25 notice was sufficient. This decision, however, conflicts with the view of Lord Denning in Betty’s Cafés Ltd v Phillips Furnishing Stores where he said (at 622) that:
If a landlord opposes on the ground that: ‘I have offered you alternative accommodation and am willing to provide it,’ he clearly means that, in the past, at some time before the notice, he has offered alternative accommodation, and that, in the present, at the time of giving the notice, he is willing to provide it.
