Category: leases

Just walk away (beforehand) – Nearly Legal

Posted January 4th, 2016 in holidays, landlord & tenant, leases, news, service charges by sally

‘Briefly, the issue was that lease clauses for some (but not all) holiday chalet leases in the Gower effectively provided for a 10% per annum increase in fixed charges for maintenance etc. The compound effect of this was that leases that started with a £90 pa service charge in 1974 would have a charge of £1,025,004 pa by the end of the term in 2072. Even by 2012, the amount payable was considerably in excess of the actual costs to the landlord of the services.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 1st January 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Council tenants lose lifetime right to live in property – The Guardian

Posted December 10th, 2015 in bills, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, local government, news, time limits by sally

‘People will no longer have the right to live in their council home for life in future after ministers moved to impose a five-year limit on new tenancies.’

Full story

The Guardian, 9th December 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

West End Investments (Cowell Group) Ltd v Birchlea Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted December 9th, 2015 in appeals, enfranchisement, housing, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases by sally

West End Investments (Cowell Group) Ltd v Birchlea Ltd [2015] EWHC 3381 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 499

‘There must be a significant deviation from the vertical plane for the exception in section 2(2) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 to apply.’

WLR Daily, 27th November 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Radical thinking on enfranchisement – Tanfield Chambers

Posted December 9th, 2015 in enfranchisement, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news, rent by sally

‘The law of enfranchisement is very complicated. A whole industry has evolved to try to interpret the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (“the 1967 Act”) and the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (“the 1993 Act”) and put them into practice. The cost and frustration to leaseholders of such a convoluted process is considerable.’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 3rd December 2015

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Arbitration in landlord and tenant disputes – Tanfield Chambers

Posted December 9th, 2015 in arbitration, consumer protection, costs, dispute resolution, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘Most landlord and tenant disputes end up in court. From the perspective of landlords, this can be a lengthy, frustrating, and costly process. For tenants, the experience is often uncertain, draining, and also costly. Is there a place for arbitration in this?’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 30th November 2015

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Interim Rent under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted December 9th, 2015 in housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news, rent by sally

‘While many practitioners are familiar with the general workings of lease renewals under the ’54 Act, there is one aspect of the law that is often overlooked: interim rent under sections 24A to D. Andy Creer takes a look at the law.’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 20th November 2015

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Leasehold disputes and costs – Nearly Legal

Posted December 7th, 2015 in appeals, costs, housing, interpretation, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘Leasehold disputes, like any litigation, are capable of generating significant legal and other professional costs. The position is generally better for freeholders/third party managers than it is for leaseholders in that a well-drafted lease will usually give the landlord/manager a right to recover legal costs, often through a variety of different forms of covenant. These clauses can (and do) “trump” any procedural restrictions on the award of costs, see, e.g. Chaplair, but, of course, it is always a question of construction as to what the clause in question covers.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 5th December 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd and another – WLR Daily

Posted December 4th, 2015 in apportionment, interpretation, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases, rent by tracey

Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd and another: [2015] UKSC 72; [2015] WLR (D) 501

‘A term would only be implied into a detailed commercial contract if its implication were necessary to give business efficacy to the contract or so obvious that went without saying.’

WLR Daily, 2nd December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Do Right To Manage Baby (Do Unto Others) – Nearly Legal

Posted October 30th, 2015 in company law, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘There have been plenty of Upper Tribunal decisions on RTM (we covered the UT decision in this case with six others back in December 2013 – our note here, where your correspondent would like it noted that he suggested that there was “plenty for the Court of Appeal to tuck into”), but there has only been one previous excursion into this area by the Court of Appeal. That case, Gala Unity Ltd v Ariadne Road RTM Co Ltd [ 2012 ]] EWCA Civ 1372 (our note), is quite the predecessor to Ninety Broomfield Road in that both cases concerned more than one block of flats seeking to exercise the right to manage together. And quite the oddity, too. The Court of Appeal in Ninety Broomfield Road has restored some sense to the application of RTM in multiple block cases. It is also plainly right (a seal of approval that will doubtless cheer the hearts of the Court of Appeal judges involved).’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 29th October 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Protecting retirement flat owners from hidden fees – a consultation – Law Commission

Posted October 29th, 2015 in consultations, fees, housing, Law Commission, leases, news, retirement by sally

‘In a consultation opening today we look at what can be done to protect owners of retirement flats and their families from unexpected charges hidden in leases.’

Full story

Law Commission, 29th October 2015

Source: www.lawcom.gov.uk

Legal notice served over ‘offensive’ coffee shop sign in London – Independent

Posted October 23rd, 2015 in landlord & tenant, leases, news, trespass by michael

‘An “offensive” coffee shop sign has found itself at the centre of a legal row in London.’

Full story

Independent, 22nd October 2015

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Art and ingenuity – New Square Chambers

Posted October 7th, 2015 in artistic works, leases, news, repairs by sally

‘Banksy has been described as a pseudonymous graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. In The Creative Foundation v Dreamland Leisure Ltd & Others [2015] EWHC 2556 (Ch) Mr Justice Arnold had to decide the ownership of a mural known as “Art Buff” attributed to Banksy and spray-painted overnight in September 2014 onto an external flank wall of an amusement arcade (”the building”) in Folkestone owned by Stonefield Estates Ltd (“Stonefield”). The ingenuous arguments advanced on behalf Dreamland in support of its claim to be the owner of the mural are arguably at least as imaginative as the mural. The judgment addresses a novel point.’

Full story

New Square Chambers, 30th September 2015

Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk

Blackstone’s Statutes: top legislation – OUP Blog

Posted September 28th, 2015 in conveyancing, EC law, human rights, leases, legislation, mental health, news by sally

‘With the recent publication of the 2015-2016 editions of the Blackstone’s Statutes series, we asked some of the authors to select a piece of legislation from the series that has the most impact on their subject area.’
Full story

OUP Blog, 28th September 2015

Source: www.oupblog.com

The Creative Foundation v Dreamland Leisure Ltd and others – WLR Daily

Posted September 18th, 2015 in artistic works, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases, repairs by tracey

The Creative Foundation v Dreamland Leisure Ltd and others; [2015] EWHC 2556 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 383

‘Any part of demised premises which has been justifiably removed from the premises by a tenant in accordance with the tenant’s obligation to repair the premises, and which becomes a chattel having substantial value, vests in the landlord.’

WLR Daily, 11th September 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

After Freifeld, when might a tenant be refused relief from forfeiture? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted September 4th, 2015 in covenants, forfeiture, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘In Freifeld v West Kensington Court Limited [2015] EWCA Civ 806, long-lessees had deliberately granted a future sub-lease of a commercial unit to a Chinese restaurant in breach of their alienation covenant not to sublet without landlord’s consent. An initial application for relief from forfeiture failed, because the tenants had wilfully breached their alienation covenant, and because there was an extensive history of neglectful management by the tenants of their obligations under the headlease. The judge concluded that the relationship between the tenants and their landlord had become dysfunctional and that it should not be re-imposed on the landlord by the grant of relief to the tenants.’
Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 21st August 2015

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Joint ownership and landlords: who serves notice? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted September 4th, 2015 in enfranchisement, landlord & tenant, leases, news, service charges by sally

‘Joint tenancy has been the only means of ownership of property at law since the Law of Property Act 1925 relegated tenancy in common to equitable ownership only. Despite the 90 years which have elapsed, joint ownership as it impacts on day to day management of residential leasehold property is not always understood. It is not uncommon, on an enfranchisement of a terraced house converted into two flats, for the freehold to be acquired by the two lessees jointly. What then? Must both decide on service charge expenditure together? What happens if one of the two refuses to join in, can the other sue? What if one of the two breaches their lease as leaseholder? These are issues which have often arisen in cases I have dealt with. The answers lie in an analysis of the trust law implications of joint ownership.’

Full story

Tanfield Chambers, 18th August 2015

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

‘It did seem to be expensive’ – Nearly Legal

Posted August 14th, 2015 in landlord & tenant, leases, news, rent, service charges by tracey

‘Gateway (Leeds) Management Ltd v (1) Naghash (2) Shamsizadeh [2015] UKUT 333 (LC). If a head leaseholder, or managing company passes on as a service charge, rent charged by a freeholder for property in order to provide services, does this amount to a variable service charge for the purposes of s.18 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and so only payable if the rent costs were reasonably incurred and if the services or works to which they relate were of a reasonable standard?’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 8th August 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Woolway (Valuation Officer) v Mazars LLP – WLR Daily

Posted August 12th, 2015 in appeals, leases, news, rates, Supreme Court, tribunals, valuation by sally

Woolway (Valuation Officer) v Mazars LLP [2015] UKSC 53; [2015] WLR (D) 353

‘Where a business’s offices were on two separate floors of an office block, the communication between the two being solely by way of the block’s communal lift, those two floors comprised two separate hereditaments for the purposes of non-domestic rating.’

WLR Daily, 29th July 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

‘It did seem to be expensive’ – Nearly Legal

Posted August 11th, 2015 in appeals, costs, landlord & tenant, leases, news, rent, service charges, tribunals by sally

If a head leaseholder, or managing company passes on as a service charge, rent charged by a freeholder for property in order to provide services, does this amount to a variable service charge for the purposes of s.18 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and so only payable if the rent costs were reasonably incurred and if the services or works to which they relate were of a reasonable standard?

Full story

Nearly Legal, 9th August 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

‘Wilful’ breach of lease not sufficient to allow landlord to terminate, court rules – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 6th, 2015 in appeals, forfeiture, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘A tenant who “wilfully” breached the conditions of his lease by sub-letting to an obnoxious sub-tenant without the consent of the ultimate landlord should not be forced to forfeit the lease immediately, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 5th August 2015

Source: www.out-law.com