‘An investigation into the leasehold property market has found “worrying evidence” that buyers are being treated unfairly and charged unreasonable fees.’
BBC News, 28th February 2020
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In this case comment, Michael Cox of CMS comments on the judgment handed down in the matter of The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v Vauxhall Motors Ltd (Formerly General Motors UK Ltd) [2019] UKSC 46. Michael is a senior associate in the Real Estate Dispute team at CMS. Michael advises on all aspects of property law, with a particular emphasis on development advice and dispute resolution.’
UKSC Blog, 21st February 2020
Source: ukscblog.com
‘In York House (Chelsea) Ltd v Thompson [2019] EWHC 2203 (Ch), [2019] 3 WLR 727 Zacaroli J. was asked to resolve various issues under the 1987 Act in a case where a husband and wife owned the freehold of a block of flats and, to preserve its development value, granted one or other of themselves leases of various parts of the block and its surroundings at peppercorn rents.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 23rd January 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
‘The First Tier Tribunal had been entitled to reach the conclusions it had as to the degree of separation between two heating systems on adjoining estates. On that basis, the interpretation they had reached of the service charge provisions in the relevant leases was correct, as costs incurred replacing pipes on one estate were not costs “incidental” to the provision of services on the other.’
Tanfield Chambers, 21st January 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘On an appeal against a determination of the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) as to the reasonableness and payability of service charges, the Upper Tribunal found that the FTT had erred in its construction of the residential leases.’
Tanfield Chambers, 21st January 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘Likely payments from third parties, including insurers, may be considered when the assessing what sums are reasonable and accordingly payable in respect of service charges in advance under s.19 (2) Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.’
Tanfield Chambers, 21st January 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘A scheme of arrangement cannot compel a landlord to accept a surrender of a lease because this would interfere with the landlord’s proprietary rights, the High Court in England has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 23rd January 2020
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘On 5 December 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Manchikalapati and others v Zurich Insurance plc and East West Insurance Company Ltd. The underlying case concerned a large block of flats in Manchester that were seriously defective.’
Practical Law Construction Blog, 22nd January 2020
‘A repudiatory breach of a contract (or a renunciation) can be a powerful weapon in the hands of the innocent party to the contract – it gives them a choice:
– Affirm the contract – keep it ongoing, sue for specific performance of whatever contractual obligation the other party has breached, and/or claim damages suffered as a result of the breach; or
– Accept the repudiation – bring the contract to an end, discharging both parties from further performance, and claim damages for loss occasioned by the termination.’
Wilberforce Chambers, 8th January 2020
Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk
‘The case demonstrates that a right-to-manage (RTM) company’s failure to serve a claim notice on a landlord of part of the premises will not amount to non-compliance with CLRA 2002, s 79(6) capable of invalidating the notice where, for all practical purposes, that landlord will not be affected by the RTM company’s assumption of the right to manage.’
Falcon Chambers, 7th January 2020
Source: www.falcon-chambers.com
‘The Law Commission has set out a range of proposals which it said will make it cheaper for Britain’s 4 million leaseholders to buy their freehold or extend their lease. However, the reforms were immediately branded by campaigners as “nothing more than tinkering”.’
The Guardian, 9th January 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Law Commission of England and Wales has today [09 January 2020] published a report setting out options to reduce the cost that leaseholders have to pay to buy the freehold or extend the lease of their homes (known as “enfranchisement”). The reforms have the potential to make the process easier and more affordable for millions of leaseholders across England and Wales.’
Law commission, 9th January 2020
‘2020 looks like it will be a busy year for residential property law. Now that the election is finally out of the way and the stasis in parliament has been resolved, we might actually see some changes in the law.’
Tanfield Chambers, 6th January 2019
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘An Upper Tribunal appeal decision where just about everything that could have been wrong about the first instance First Tier Tribunal decision was.’
Nearly Legal, 5th January 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over empty commercial properties and whether councils are owed more than £10m in business rates arrears.’
Local Government Lawyer, 6th December 2019
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Having struggled with ‘what is a house?’, the Court of Appeal has turned its attention to ‘what is a flat?’’
Tanfield Chambers, 2nd December 2019
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘The long-running saga of East Tower Apartments Limited v No.1 West India Quay Residential Limited continues.
The landlord has been given permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on the issue of whether a demand under Section 20B(1) must be a contractually valid demand. If the landlord is successful, this will likely require the Upper Tribunal to find that Brent London Borough Council v Schulem B Association Ltd [2011] 1 WLR 3014 was wrongly decided.’
Tanfield Chambers, 29th November 2019
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘There was inadequate evidence to conclude that a lease was ‘unsatisfactory’ for the purposes of s.35 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (‘the 1987 Act’), and an FTT order varying the lease was overturned. The FTT decision finding no prejudice due to a lack of expert evidence was also set aside: this decision could not stand in circumstances where an application to adjourn to obtain expert evidence had been refused due to their being an expert surveyor on the panel.’
Tanfield Chambers, 29th November 2019
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘The First-tier Tribunal had been correct to refuse a local authority landlord’s application under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 section 35 to vary 28 subleases granted to the occupiers of flats. The fact that those sublessees made a lower contribution by way of service charges to the landlord’s expenses than the sublessees of other flats in the same development did not mean that their subleases failed, for the purposes of section 35(2), to “make satisfactory provision” for the recovery of expenditure.’
Tanfield Chambers, 29th November 2019
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
‘Traditionally it has been supposed that only tenants of leases could obtain relief from forfeiture; Grays’
Elements of Land Law 5th Ed. §4.1.69:
Only a tenant – and not a licensee – may ask for relief against forfeiture.
This has just been reversed by the Supreme Court (23rd October 2019).’
Guildhall Chambers, 7th November 2019
Source: www.guildhallchambers.co.uk
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