‘The guarantor of an insolvent commercial tenant cannot be held liable for outstanding obligations if changes were made to the lease without its consent which had the “potential” to increase the burden on the guarantor, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.’
OUT-LAW.com, 23rd January 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
‘A s.202 review decision on affordability was at the centre of this second appeal, brought by Birmingham after a s.204 appeal decision went against them. The issue was to what extent the review decision should manifest attention to the statutory guidance (the July 2006 Guidance) on affordability.
NearlyLegal, 15th December 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘One of a couple of cases on intentional homelessness and affordability of accommodation.’
NearlyLegal, 24th November 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
‘Hurzat v Hounslow LBC (2013) CA (Civ Div) 21 November 2013. What is the relationship between Housing Act 1996 Part VII and Children Act 2004? Does the duty under s.11 Children Act to safeguard and promote the welfare of children have a bearing on decisions on intentional homelessness under Housing Act 1996? While this case provides a partial answer, it was not, I think, a great case on the facts for testing the interplay of the Acts.’
NearlyLegal, 24th November 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
“A tenant’s option to determine a commercial lease (a ‘break clause’) is a common feature of the modern landlord and tenant relationship. As a result of the weak economy and the ability of tenants to determine unilaterally an unfavourable lease on terms, there have recently been a number of reported decisions concerning the disputed exercise of break clauses. The typical interests in conflict have been described in Canonical UK Ltd v TST Millbank LLC [2012] EWHC 3710 (Ch) by Vos J (para 3): ‘This is a hard case for both sides. The tenant company … needs to know if it has successfully broken the lease because its future business depends on using its resources elsewhere. The landlord in these poor economic times seeks to use any argument it properly can to keep its building tenanted.'”
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New Square Chambers, 31st October 2013
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
“Buy-to-let landlords are threatening to take legal action against what they say are unjustified interest rate rises.”
BBC News, 26th October 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act comes into force tomorrow (Tuesday 15 October 2013) in England only. The text of the Act is here. A key point is the introduction of ‘Unlawful Profit Orders’, which get around the decision of the Court of Appeal in Sumal v Newham London Borough Council [2012] EWCA Crim 1840 that confiscation of rent was not possible because ‘the continued receipt of the rent was not the product of the appellants crime’. (Admittedly that was a prosecution for an unlicensed property in a selective licensing area under section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004, but the point about confiscation not being enabled under statute had broader application).”
NearlyLegal, 14th October 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Four councils are taking legal advice to challenge Mayor Boris Johnson’s decision by which affordable rents can be set at up to 80% of market prices.”
BBC News, 8th September 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Liz Davies considers the ways in which landlords have benefited from the credit crisis and explores how tenants could be given increased security through five-year tenancies.”
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 30th July 2013
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
“A recent case in the Chancery Division is the latest in a series concerning payment of rent as a condition of exercising a break clause: Marks & Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd [2013] EWHC 1279; [2013] 22 EG 92. In this series of cases, tenants have sought to overcome the apparent unfairness of paying quarterly rent due in advance as a condition of exercising a break clause part way through a quarter, leading to an overpayment of rent when compared pro rata to the period of actual occupancy.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 15th July 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“Landlords pursuing the administrators of Game for millions of pounds in rent that went unpaid while the retailer was insolvent will have their case fast-tracked to the Court of Appeal, according to press reports.”
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“A new consolidated property tribunal came into existence today with a single set of procedural rules aimed at simplifying the process.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 1st July 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“We’ve all seen the ubiquitous scene from the American court-room drama where the bespectacled and previously underrated legal assistant/student/intern etc. bursts into the back of the crowded court, and shouts ‘State v. Jones’ whilst waving the paper judgment triumphantly at the judge. The judge is thereby stopped from making the patently unjust ruling he was about to make, changing his mind in favour of the film’s protagonist. This doesn’t happen in real life, so it was with much anticipation that I awaited the case of Johnson v Old [2013] EWCA Civ 415, which I used in court less than 24 hours after it was handed down. My thanks go to Karen Reid, one of our pupils at 1 Gray’s Inn Square, who rushed from the RCJ, clutching the judgment, ink still drying from Sir John Chadwick’s quill (well, printer at least).”
The Barristers’ Hub, 12th June 2013
Source: www.barristershub.co.uk
“The Court of Appeal has been turning its mind to another of the odd questions that has sprung from the fertile litigious bosom of tenancy deposit protection. In this case the argument was over the question of rent payable in advance.”
NearlyLegal, 23rd April 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
“Lettings agents have been accused of breaking the law by not revealing their fees to renters.”
The Independent, 5th March 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The regime for the provision of housing benefit to private sector tenants enabled the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to cap increases in permitted levels of housing benefit by reference to the general rate of inflation.”
WLR Daily, 15th February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“With the beginning of the bedroom tax looming up for April and upwards of 700,000 households affected, I’ve been thinking about the position when the inevitable rent arrears possessions start to appear – probably by about October – and also whether the statute itself is open to challenge.”
NearlyLegal, 10th February 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“The government has announced plans for an independent adjudicator in the pub industry to help struggling landlords.”
BBC News, 8th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A landlord who forced a teenage girl to ‘pay’ for her rent with sexual favours has been jailed for four years.”
BBC News, 7th January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) sub-sale rules announced as part of the draft Finance Bill ‘will introduce complexity and uncertainty into commercial transactions’ said John Christian, a property tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.”
OUT-LAW.com, 11th December 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
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