High Court: commercial tenant cannot assign lease to its guarantor – OUT-LAW.com

Posted March 23rd, 2016 in assignment, guarantees, insolvency, landlord & tenant, leases, news by tracey

‘Anti-avoidance provisions in the 1995 Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act prevent a tenant from assigning a lease to its guarantor, the High Court has ruled.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 21st March 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

High Court: commercial tenant cannot assign lease to its guarantor – OUT-LAW.com

Posted March 22nd, 2016 in landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘Anti-avoidance provisions in the 1995 Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act prevent a tenant from assigning a lease to its guarantor, the High Court has ruled.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 21st March 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Nearly Legal

Posted March 22nd, 2016 in appeals, dogs, families, landlord & tenant, news, nuisance by sally

‘Neighbour nuisance. These are often difficult and indeed expensive cases. And always there are those affected who believe that a landlord is liable for their tenant’s nuisance (which they just aren’t, save for the extremely rare case in which the landlord has participated in or, by letting the property authorised their tenant’s nuisance – Lawrence v. Fen Tigers Ltd (No. 2) [2014] UKSC 46, [2015] AC 106,).’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 20th March 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Bannisters that never were – Nearly Legal

‘You wait for 4 years for another case on bannisters and the Defective Premises Act 1972 and then two come along at once…

Sternbaum v Dhesi [2016] EWCA Civ 155

Dodd v Raebarn Estates Ltd & Ors [2016] EWHC 262 (QB)

Both can be dealt with fairly quickly and together, as the courts follow the same lines. Both cases involved falls on stairs, very sadly in Dodd, a fatal fall. In each case, there was no bannister to the staircase. Both claims were on appeal from being dismissed at first instance.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 20th March 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Righting wrong writs. High Court enforcement – Nearly Legal

‘This has been a bit of an epic. First, the problem of High Court Enforcement Officers using form N293A to obtain writs of possession against tenants was raised by us in November 2015, then the scale of that use became clear by January 2016, and there were updates in February. Now, the coup de grace (which, if I am entirely honest, I’ve known was coming for a while).’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 21st March 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Cocking and another v Eacott and another – WLR Daily

Posted March 15th, 2016 in appeals, families, landlord & tenant, law reports, nuisance by sally

Cocking and another v Eacott and another [2016] EWCA Civ 140

‘The second defendant owned but did not occupy a property. She granted the first defendant, her daughter, a bare licence to live there. The second defendant paid all the bills and maintained the property and her daughter did not pay any rent. The claimant owners of the next door property complained about the excessive barking of the daughter’s dog. The claimants wrote a letter before action to which the second defendant responded that a landlord was not liable for nuisance committed by a tenant, that she was not personally involved in the alleged incidents and that she was estranged from her daughter. The claimants issued proceedings against the second defendant and her daughter for nuisance. The second defendant served a notice to quit on her daughter and obtained a possession order which she did not enforce. The second defendant did not accept the claimants’ offer of a settlement if she permanently evicted her daughter from the property. The judge held that the second defendant was liable in nuisance to the claimants even though she did not occupy the property from which the nuisance emanated, concluding that liability attached once the owner knew or was deemed to know of the nuisance and had failed after a reasonable time to abate it and therefore if the owner chose to do nothing then she became liable for it with the actual creator of the nuisance.’

WLR Daily, 9th March 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Nor any drop to drink – Nearly Legal

‘Jones v London Borough of Southwark [2016] EWHC 457 (Ch). Quite a lot of councils have agreements with water suppliers under which the council will collect water charges from their tenants, effectively as an addition to the rent. This case concerned a challenge to the nature and validity of Southwark’s agreement, at least before 2013.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 5th March 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Of sink holes and strict liability – Nearly Legal

‘Lafferty v Newark & Sherwood District Council [2016] EWHC 320 (QB). Does section 4(4) of the Defective Premises Act 1972 create a strict liability on the landlord for any defect, such that it covers latent or undetectable defects? The short answer is no. This appeal sets out why.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 6th March 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Court rules council overcharged 37,000 tenants for water and sewerage – Local Government Lawyer

Posted March 7th, 2016 in housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news, rates, sewerage, utilities, water by tracey

‘A London borough has overcharged approximately 37,000 tenants for water and sewerage services, a High Court judge has ruled.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 4th March 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.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

Tenants saved from ‘flood’ of money claims for insured losses – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted February 23rd, 2016 in insurance, landlord & tenant, news by sally

‘The High Court delivered judgment last Friday in Fresca-Judd v Golovina, a test case raising important questions on tenants’ liability for damage to property. Katrina Mather assisted with this case during her twelve month pupillage, and has set out a useful summary of the case, and the issues that flow from it.’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 11th February 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Su-su-subrogation – Nearly Legal

Posted February 18th, 2016 in housing, insurance, landlord & tenant, news by sally

‘Ms Golvina had rented a cottage from Ms Fresca-Judd. The rent was some £2,800 per month. Ms Golvina was away from the cottage over the Christmas period in 2010 and while she was away, the pipes froze and then burst during a cold snap. The cottage was flooded and the damage caused allegedly amounted to some £128,089.71.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 16th February 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

High Court enforcement continued – Nearly Legal

‘In what has turned into a continuing series, there are further updates on enforcement of possession orders via the High Court, obtaining writs and the scandalous conduct of many High Court Enforcement Officers.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 13th February 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Without prejudice privilege – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The ‘without prejudice’ privilege refers to the inadmissibility of any party communications targeted toward settlement. The objective of this privilege is to encourage parties engaging in settlement consideration, by ensuring any information disclosed in the pursuit of settlement cannot be submitted in litigation proceedings (see Lord Griffiths in Rush & Tomkins v GLC [1989] 1 AC 1280).’

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 15th February 2016

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Judge complains of “too many swindlers” after wrongly questioning status of solicitor – Legal Futures

Posted February 8th, 2016 in appeals, bias, internet, judges, landlord & tenant, Law Society, news, solicitors by tracey

‘A judge who wrongly questioned the status of a solicitor after doing his own research on the Law Society’s website, has been criticised by the Court of Appeal.’

Full story

Legal Futures, 5th February 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Court of Appeal : LiPs can benefit from ‘without prejudice’ rule without knowing what it means – Litigation Futures

‘Litigants in person (LiPs) can benefit from the ‘without prejudice’ rule even if they do not know what it means, the Court of Appeal has made clear.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 19th January 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Something wicked this way comes – LAG Housing Law

Posted January 13th, 2016 in housing, landlord & tenant, news by sally

‘Sam Madge-Wyld considers the housing law agenda for 2016.’

Full story

LAG Housing Law, 12th January 2016

Source: www.laghousinglaw.com

Collective Enfranchisement: Validity of Notices – Tanfield Chambers

Posted January 13th, 2016 in enfranchisement, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘Chapter I of Part I of the 1993 Act confers on certain tenants of flats held under long residential leases in certain premises the right to collective enfranchisement, that is to say the right to have the freehold of those premises acquired on their behalf by a person appointed by them for that purpose and at a price determined in accordance with Schedule 6 to the 1993 Act. Tenants entitled to participate in collective enfranchisement are called “qualifying tenants”. The premises must comprise two or more flats held by qualifying tenants. The total number of flats held by such tenants must be not less than two thirds of the total number of flats contained in the premises’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 7th January 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Landlords in England get ready for right to rent – Home Office

‘Landlords in England are being reminded that there is less than a month to go before “right to rent” rules go live.’

Full press release

Home Office, 8th January 2016

Source: www.gov.uk/home-office

A scandal unfolds: High Court enforcement again – Nearly Legal

‘In our last post, we dealt with the issue of an application for a High Court writ being made in tenant possession cases by way of form N293A. To recap, this is the form which expressly states “This judgment or order has been sent to the High Court for enforcement by (Writ of Possession against trespassers) only”.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 6th January 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk