Part 10: Letting by Local Authorities of Vacant High-street premises Procedure preliminary to letting Section 196: Restriction on letting while initial notice in force Effect
Subsection (1) requires the landlord to obtain the written consent of the local authority to the letting while the initial letting notice is in force. The landlord is required to obtain this consent before it enters into the letting. Consent is not required where the landlord is transferring or surrendering its interest in the premises.
	Subsection (2) requires a local authority to respond to a landlord’s request for consent within a reasonable time after it is sought.
	Subsection (3) does not require consent where the tenancy is granted pursuant to an obligation that bound the landlord before the initial letting notice took effect. An example would be where the landlord has entered into an agreement for lease. This exception does not apply where the obligation to grant the lease is conditional on service of an initial letting notice (see subsection (4)).
	Subsection (5) sets out the implications for the letting if the landlord does not obtain consent from the local authority. It will be void.
	Subsection (6) provides for circumstances where a tenancy, licence or agreement which is void by virtue of subsection (5) is no longer treated as void. This is where the local authority does not trigger the procedure for letting by serving a final letting notice, or does not complete the procedure for letting having served a final letting notice, and the parties to such tenancy, licence or agreement have treated it as valid.