Long term rental contract query

I am about to sign up to lease my apartment to the local council for a 10 year period. There is one section of the contract which is puzzling me and was wondering if anyone had advice on it:

Under the "Termintation" section:
"If the unitor, any part thereof, shall be destroyed or damaged or a reasonable means of access thereto is denied by fire or otherwise then the lessee shall have the right to terminate this lease by notice in writing to the lessor and, if such notice is served by the lessee on the lessor, this lease shall be deemed to be at an endand any rent paid in respect of a period of time where occupation or reasonable access is denied shall be refunded by the lessor to the lessee".

To me this sounds that if whoever they have in the apartment set the place on fire, the council can calcel the contract and walk away!!! please tell me i'm wrong!

I would recommend you see your solicitor before you sign up to anything.

Does anyone have a view or understanding of the contract extract?

Bob99754096 said:

To me this sounds that if whoever they have in the apartment set the place on fire, the council can calcel the contract and walk away!!! please tell me i'm wrong!

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It does sound to me exactly that! And they will also be looking for the rent back, if they paid any rent in advance.

Bob99754096 said:

Under the "Termintation" section:
"If the unitor, any part thereof, shall be destroyed or damaged or a reasonable means of access thereto is denied by fire or otherwise then the lessee shall have the right to terminate this lease by notice in writing to the lessor and, if such notice is served by the lessee on the lessor, this lease shall be deemed to be at an endand any rent paid in respect of a period of time where occupation or reasonable access is denied shall be refunded by the lessor to the lessee".

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I think this section is simply saying if the property is destroyed or damaged by fire or otherwise, they have the right to terminate the lease, and get back any rent paid in advance for the property that is now uninhabitable or no longer accessible.

Seems reasonable to me, any lease holder would be entitled to terminate their lease in a case like this, as although through no fault of the landlord he would not now be fulfilling his obligations.

It does not mention anything about their tenant deliberately setting the place on fire, or countless other unlikely events, but it’s an interesting question, could they still terminate in this unlikely event where their tenant deliberately caused the damage.