Re Entry - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition re-entry

Definition :

Re-entry, the resuming or retaking that possession which one has lately foregone. A clause of this nature, called a 'proviso for re-entry,' is inserted in every properly drawn lease, empowering the lessor to re-enter upon the demised premises if the rent is in arrear for a certain period, e.g., twenty-one days, or if there shall be any breach of the lessee's covenants. A proviso for re-entry, strictly speaking, is only applicable to corporeal hereditaments; see Sitwell v. Londesborough (Earl of), (1905) 1 Ch 465. A proviso for re-entry for breach of covenant has been denounced by a judge of the greatest eminence as 'a most odious stipulation', Hodgkinson v. Crowe, (1875) LR 10 Ch 626, per Sir Wm. James, L.J., but in practice is certainly common enough. A proviso confined to the case of non-payment of rent is a 'usual' stipulation: see Re Anderton, (1890) 45 Ch D 476. A lease under the Settled Land Act, 1882, must contain a condition of re-entry on the rent not being paid within a specified time not exceeding thirty days (Settled Land Act, 1882, s. 7, sub-s. 3, reproduced and amended by s. 42, Settled Land Act, 1925; Sitwell v. Londesborough (Earl of), ubi sup.); see also Conveyancing Act, 1881, s. 18 (7), now Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 99. See FORFEITURE.

A landlord's resumption of possession of leased premises upon tenant's default under the lease, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1284.