This section specifies whether there is a qualifying tenant of a flat for the purposes of this Chapter and, if so, who it is.
Subject as follows, a person is the qualifying tenant of a flat if he is tenant of the flat under a long lease.
Subsection (2) does not apply where the lease is a tenancy to which Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (c. 56) (business tenancies) applies.
Subsection (2) does not apply where—
No flat has more than one qualifying tenant at any one time; and subsections (6) and (7) apply accordingly.
Where a flat is being let under two or more long leases, a tenant under any of those leases which is superior to that held by another is not the qualifying tenant of the flat.
Where a flat is being let to joint tenants under a long lease, the joint tenants shall (subject to subsection (6)) be regarded as jointly being the qualifying tenant of the flat.