‘In this case, the Supreme Court considered to what extent lessees could escape what appeared to be a very bad bargain indeed. The crux of the case was: to what extent can commercial common sense defeat a contractual provision which defies it?”
Hardwicke Chambers, 24th July 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Tenants of a holiday park will ultimately be obliged to pay over £1m a year per chalet, after the Supreme Court endorsed leases in which the service charge increases by 10% a year – regardless of the actual costs of providing those services.
Henderson Chambers, 16th June 2015
Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk
‘As everyone knows, the court, in the case of a business lease with security of tenure, and subject to certain grounds for refusal, can order the grant of a new business for a term of up to 15 years. The new lease normally now starts from the date of the court order. However there may be a gap between the expiry of the original lease and the start of, or as the case may be, the refusal of a new lease, a gap that may be significant in the case of a hotly contested case. During this interim period, the court can order that the tenant pay an interim rent to the landlord.’
New Square Chambers, 29th July 2015
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
Southward Housing Co-operative Ltd v Walker and others [2015] EWHC 1615 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 246
‘The rule that it was beyond the power of the landlord and the tenant to create a term which was uncertain did not depend for its application on the parties’ intentions; but might be disapplied where those intentions and fundamental aspects of their agreement would be confounded by it.’
WLR Daily, 8th June 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court has handed down judgment in Arnold v. Britton & Ors. [2015] U. K. S. C. 36, concerning the construction of service charge clauses for holiday chalets in Oxwich Bay, South Wales (pictured). In so doing, it has taken the opportunity to reiterate and re-emphasise some fundamental principles of contractual interpretation.’
36 Bedford Row Property Blog, 11th June 2015
Source: www.36property.co.uk
‘Lease provisions that would ultimately increase service charges payable by the tenants of a number of holiday homes near Swansea to more than £1 million a year should be allowed to stand, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’
Full story
OUT-LAW.com, 11th June 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Last time this column discussed the changes introduced to leasehold tenure in Scotland. Nicola Muir examined the long-term package of reforms designed to bring about the demise of the feudal and leasehold system north of the border. To recap, Scotland is about to implement the changes introduced by the Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012, which follows the imposition in 1974 of a 20 year limit on the term of any new residential lease and the abolition of the feudal system of property ownership in 2004. In 2000 a limit of 175 years was imposed on the term of commercial leases. The final stage of reforms under the 2012 Act will convert qualifying leases into ownership. ‘
Tanfield Chambers, 20th March 2015
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘Scott v. Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd, in which the Supreme Court gave judgment on 22nd October 2014, has finally determined, in favour of the mortgagees, the question of priority between home owners, who had sold their homes under sale and leaseback schemes after getting into financial difficulties in return for the grant of a tenancy from the purchaser, and the mortgagees who provided the finances for the purchases. In order for the home owners’ unregistered interests to override a registered disposition under the Land Registration Act 2002, the interest had to be a proprietary interest, but prior to acquiring the legal estate a purchaser could not grant equitable rights of a proprietary character, as opposed to personal rights.’
Full story (PDF)
Radcliffe Chambers, 10th February 2015
Source: www.radcliffechambers.com
‘The distinction between a repair and an improvement when a landlord carries out works to a property is often problematic. The volume and age of reported cases on this point shows this is not a recent problem.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 9th March 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘In the absence of agreement, the terms of any new lease to be granted under the provisions of Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 are to be determined by the court in accordance with sections 32 to 35 of that 1954.’
Full story (PDF)
New Square Chambers, February 2015
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has approved arrangements allowing companies within the Hilton group to reassign leases between themselves without the landlord losing the benefit of a guarantee granted by the parent company.’
OUT-LAW.com, 20th January 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Armes v Wheel Property Co Ltd, Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court, 17 May 2013
Claimant had been the protected tenant of a two bed flat in a Victorian terrace conversion for 30 years. Current rent was £191 per week.’
NearlyLegal, 18th January 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘As the average lease length decreases, a review of dilapidations liability by the Court of Appeal is timely. Dilapidations are the repair works which have not been undertaken by the tenant, in breach of the terms of the lease.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 12th January 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Osman and another v Natt and another [2014] EWCA Civ 1520; [2014] WLR (D) 505
‘On its proper interpretation the statutory scheme of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 required the court to hold that a purported notice under section 13 claiming the right to collective enfranchisement was invalid by virtue of the non-compliance with section 13(3)(e) in failing to identify all the qualifying tenants and to state their addresses in the property. The intention of the legislature as to the consequences of non-compliance with the statutory procedure had to be ascertained in the light of the statutory scheme as a whole.’
WLR Daily, 26th November 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The North East Property Buyers litigation test cases finally reached the Supreme Court and judgment was handed down on 22nd October 2014. Any practitioner in property and housing litigation in the North East, and indeed further afield, will have had some knowledge of, or dealings with, schemes such as were in these cases examined. They concerned sale and lease back agreements, a simple enough notion, involving the purchase of a vendor’s home by a nominee, often at an undervalue, in return granting the vendor a lease of the property, thereby releasing equity to the vendor and allowing them to remain in the property at a reduced rent.’
Full story (PDF)
Zenith Chambers, 24th October 2014
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
This is a post about the consultation provisions in ss.20, 20ZA, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, applicable in respect of service chargeable costs. If you’re not interested in long leasehold law (which, looking at the site stats for most popular pages, is most of you), then look away now.
NearlyLegal, 5th November 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A firm that purchased properties in the north east of England on the condition that the previous owners would be entitled to remain in their homes indefinitely was not in a position to make such a promise, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 23rd October 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The question of the use of hedonic regression in the calculation of relativity is, I suspect, not breakfast table conversation for some of our readers even if it would appear that in the bars of Chelsea they talk of nothing else. The Upper Tribunal’s decision in Re: 47 Phillimore Gardens (available on the Upper Tribunal website) is all about exactly that topic and I think it is an important one. I will therefore try to unpack with my apologies to those readers for whom most of this is obvious.’
NearlyLegal, 4th September 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A leaseholder with a leaking roof or defective shared heating system faces two questions: Who is responsible for undertaking the necessary repairs to the building and internal repairs to their property and how will it be paid for?’
Hardwicke Chambers, 4th July 2014
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘The recent decision in Regent Wealth Ltd and others v Wiggins [2014] EWCA Civ 1078 is a clear reminder to practitioners to register notices under s.13, Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.’
NearlyLegal, 3rd August 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
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