Avon Ground Rents Ltd v Child [2018] UKUT 204 (LC) – Tanfield Chambers

‘The UT comprised of Holgate J and HHJ Hodge QC (also sitting as County Court judges) gave valuable guidance concerning the importance of judges maintaining jurisdictional clarity and seperation when sitting as both FTT judges and County Court judges under the Residential Property Dispute Deployment Pilot.’

Full Story

Tanfield Chambers, 5th October 2018

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

A way to deal with delinquent lessors? – Nearly Legal

Posted October 26th, 2018 in covenants, landlord & tenant, leases, news by tracey

‘A not infrequent problem for leaseholders is a landlord who takes a lackadaisical approach to enforcing leasehold covenants, or worse yet allows or waives breaches of covenants by certain leaseholders.’

Full Story

Nearly Legal, 24th October 2018

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Unintentionally wide non-compete clause: A warning from the Court of Appeal in Egon Zehnder Ltd v Tillman – Cloisters

Posted October 20th, 2017 in company law, competition, covenants, interpretation, news by sally

‘Having previously blogged on this case (see here for that blog on Egon Zehnder Ltd v Tillman [2017] EWHC 1278 (Ch)), Jacques Algazy QC and Nathaniel Caiden consider the repercussions of the Court of Appeal judgment in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1054.’

Full Story

Cloisters, 12th October 2017

Source: www.cloisters.com

Family: Undertakings and variations – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted October 2nd, 2017 in covenants, jurisdiction, mortgages, news, Supreme Court, undertakings by sally

‘While the Supreme Court’s decision in Birch v Birch [2017] UKSC 53 is ostensibly about the court’s power to vary undertakings, it provides useful broader guidance on the variation of family orders generally.’

Full Story

Law Society's Gazette, 2nd October 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Finance and Divorce Update, August 2017 – Family Law Week

‘Naomi Shelton, Associate with Mills & Reeve LLP, analyses the news and case law relating to financial remedies and divorce during July 2017.’

Full Story

Family Law Week, 2nd August 2017

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Jetha v Basildon Court Residents Company Ltd – Arden Chambers

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in appeals, covenants, estoppel, landlord & tenant, leases, news, service charges, tribunals by sally

‘The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has given guidance on the approach to be followed by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) when considering whether there is an estoppel by convention which prevents a leaseholder from denying the payability of a service charge which has not been demanded in accordance with the terms of the lease.’

Full story

Arden Chambers, 16th February 2017

Source: www.ardenchambers.com

Works and quiet enjoyment – Nearly Legal

Posted January 5th, 2017 in construction industry, covenants, landlord & tenant, leases, news, noise, rent by tracey

‘Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corporation & Anor [2016] EWHC 1075 (Ch). It is a commercial property case, but has interesting elements on the way in which building works may be reasonably carried out.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 4th January 2017

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Tribunal: ‘public interest’ need for social housing justified breach of covenant – OUT-LAW.com

‘A tribunal has agreed to a property developer’s request to modify a restrictive covenant preventing the use of land for anything other than car parking, even though the developer had already built social housing on the land in breach of that covenant.’

Full story

OUt-LAW.com, 6th December 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

In residence – New Law Journal

Posted November 22nd, 2016 in covenants, hotels, housing, leases, news, rent, tribunals by sally

‘Tamsin Cox & Julia Petrenko examine a useful authority for freeholders of residential buildings in relation to Airbnb.’

Full story

New Law Journal, 18th November 2016

Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk

Nemcova v Fairfield (‘the Airbnb ruling’): Stirring up the Hornets’ Nest of Short-Term Lets – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in appeals, covenants, hotels, landlord & tenant, leases, news, tribunals by sally

‘In Nemcova v Fairfield Rents Ltd [2016] UKUT 303 (LC), in what has become known as ‘the Airbnb ruling’, the Upper Tribunal gave guidance on the circumstances in which short-term lets might amount to a breach of covenant prohibiting the use of a property for anything other than ‘a private residence’. In this article, Jamal Demachkie (who acted for the successful landlord at first instance and on appeal) provides his analysis of this important decision.’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 12th October 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Landlord & Tenant – Unlawful sub-letting – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in covenants, landlord & tenant, leases, news, tribunals by sally

‘The Upper Tribunal upheld the FTT’s determination that the lessee had breached a covenant in her lease not to use her flat other than as a private residence by granting a series of short-term lettings of the property. The fact that the lessee had granted the lettings meant that her occupation of the flat was so transient and not sufficiently permanent that she would not consider the property her private residence.’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 10th October 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Airbnb – a wonderful idea or is it? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in covenants, hotels, landlord & tenant, leases, mortgages, news, nuisance by sally

‘Airbnb seems like a wonderful idea. You can rent out your flat whenever convenient without having to become a full-time landlord or hotelier. It’s an easy way to earn a little extra cash with the added bonus of a world-wide network of other people’s spare rooms available for that well-deserved weekend break. Airbnb now has 60m users, 640,000 “hosts”, 2m listings and 500,000 stays per night. It’s big!’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 22nd October 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Airbnb – a quick buck or a catastrophic mistake? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted August 23rd, 2016 in covenants, holidays, housing, internet, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘The last few years have seen short term property letting sites such as Airbnb become the go-to way of booking holiday accommodation in Europe’s most popular cities. Millennial tourists are rejecting stuffy, expensive hotels, preferring instead the flexibility of their own apartment right in the middle of town where, in the words of Airbnb, they can “feel at home anywhere in the world”. In response, those who are lucky enough to own or occupy a city apartment have been quick to meet the demand, with new “hosts” joining the site every day. There are Airbnb kiosks on London’s high streets where tourists can book a property like they used to book a cab.’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 5th August 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

County court: restricting sunlight to a tenant’s flat could be breach of leasehold covenant – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 19th, 2016 in covenants, landlord & tenant, leases, news, right to light by tracey

‘Development work that restricts natural sunlight to property can in principle be a breach of a ‘quiet enjoyment’ covenant in a lease, even where no formal right to light exists, according to the county court.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 17th August 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

A judge by any other name would smell… much the same – Hardwicke Chambers

‘Did you know that a judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) may be able to hear a county court case and vice versa? Under a scheme being piloted at present, such a thing is indeed possible.’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 13th June 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Management Issues at Mixed-Use Developments – Tanfield Chambers

Posted July 12th, 2016 in consultations, covenants, enfranchisement, housing, leases, news, service charges by sally

‘By their very nature, mixed-use developments involve multiple parties with competing interests. This often leads to disputes regarding the management of the estate and the cost of maintaining it and, ultimately, to leaseholders wanting to take control (either by exercising the right to collective enfranchisement or the right to manage).’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 10th June 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corpn and another – WLR Daily

Posted June 3rd, 2016 in covenants, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases by sally

Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corpn and another [2016] EWHC 1075 (Ch)

‘The tenant occupied the ground and basement floors of a building from which it operated a gallery. The lease contained terms reserving the landlord’s right to build and a covenant for quiet enjoyment. In order to carry out works on the adjoining upper floors of the building, the landlord erected scaffolding, which enveloped the building, restricting access to the tenant’s gallery and giving the impression that it was closed. The works also caused substantial noise in the tenant’s premises. No financial compensation was offered by the landlord to the tenant for the works undertaken.’

WLR Daily, 10th May 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

A laundrette by any other name smells less sweet – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted March 22nd, 2016 in contracts, covenants, leases, news by sally

‘This Q&A deals with user clauses in commercial leases. What is permitted by a covenant permitting use solely as a laundrette? Does such a clause permit the provision of dry-cleaning services?’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 21st March 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

A Hawarden Kite – Nearly Legal

Posted March 1st, 2016 in covenants, forfeiture, housing, leases, news, tribunals by sally

‘Forfeiture of (residential) long leases is a controversial subject: on the one hand, it’s clear that there has to be a practical and accessible route for landlords to enforce covenants, whether as to payment of monies or more general “management” covenants (e.g. stopping people just removing load bearing walls); but, on the other, the potential for an enormous (and almost always disproportionate) benefit to the landlord if the lease actually is forfeited is pretty hard to justify. Moreover, as a result of both the general drafting techniques in long leases and some [ahem] interesting Court of Appeal decisions, there is a pretty good case that a landlord can recover his legal and professional costs of pursuing forfeiture matters, even if the breach is trivial or if relief would be granted.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 29th February 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Sharing the Spoils – Tanfield Chambers

Posted February 24th, 2016 in covenants, insurance, interpretation, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘It is not uncommon for a lease to impose an obligation on one party or another to insure the subject property against the usual insured risks. But difficult questions can arise when the party placing the insurance is not the party in occupation. When and to what extent can the proceeds be shared? And what impact does such an arrangement have on damage caused by the occupier’s negligence?’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 9th February 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk