Clue: Perhaps access refused for this heir's failure to renew investiture (3-5)
Answer: NON-ENTRY
Explanation: Definition: heir's failure to renew investiture
With all the crossers, this all it could be, and rather to my surprise, Chambers gives: **non-entry**: (*Scots law, hist*) a vassal heir's failure to renew investiture; the payment that was due to the superior on such failure
 The first definition appears verbatim.The wordplay is a literal interpretation, with the suggestion that the vassal would be excluded as a result of the failure.