client information sheets and updates
Our Real Estate Dispute Resolution and Real Estate teams
regularly produce information sheets and guides to help their
clients understand topical issues or recent changes in
legislation.
our latest update
rights to
light
When embarking on a development, a developer
must be careful not to infringe established easements over the land
which are enjoyed by third parties, such as rights of light. It is
possible for a third party to bring proceedings against a developer
to obtain an injunction where such rights are infringed. If
successful, an injunction could hinder a development from
completion or, in the extreme, prevent works commencing on site.
Alternatively, the affected third party can bring an action in
nuisance for damages.
previous updates
Click on the links below to view or download previous updates
from the team:
general
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Forfeiture of Part Residential and Part Business
Premises (July 2007)
In the current market, landlords are advised to take action
quickly to recover rent from defaulting commercial tenants. An
action that is favoured by landlords where rent is in arrears, is
to forfeit the lease by peaceable re-entry (that is going into the
premises with the intention to forfeit, changing locks and putting
up a notice to the effect that the lease has been forfeited).
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Powerful lessons for landlords (May 2007)
The property industry now has the long awaited High Court
judgment (1 May 2007) in the Powerhouse* case and that of the Court
of Appeal in the case of Thomas** in regard to the position of
landlords in approved company voluntary arrangements (CVA) under
the Insolvency Act 1986 and the consequential effect on lease
forfeiture rights.
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Tenancy deposit schemes - update (April 2007)
Under the Housing Act 2004, the Government has introduced
compulsory measures to protect deposits paid by tenants for new
assured shorthold tenancies. As from the 6 April 2007, by law, any
landlord taking a deposit in relation to such a tenancy in England
and Wales is required to register with a tenancy deposit
scheme.
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Further obligations for property investors, developers and business
tenants (April 2007)
The existing Construction (Design and
Management) Regulations 1994, deemed by the Government to be too
complicated, have been replaced with the like named 2007
Regulations which are still more complicated. This alert focuses on
the duties of the 'client' – the person who, in practical terms, is
procuring the works.
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Disability
discrimination (January 2007)
We explore whether new laws in the landlord and tenant
arena will bite hard or prove a damp squib.
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commercial
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Energy
Performance Certificates (EPCs) - should you be
concerned? (August 2008)
If you own or occupy a commercial building and want to sell, let
or transfer a lease of it, this note will be of interest to
you.
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Lease break conditions and ‘material breach’ – extreme caution
remains necessary
It is well known within the property industry, although not to
many business tenants, that early break rights in many leases can
be rendered illusory by severe conditions attached to the tenant's
right to break the lease.
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Protection from eviction from mixed use premises – an odd
result
To the surprise of many in the property industry, on 26 May 2006
the Court of Appeal allowed a tenant's appeal under section 2 of
the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 against a trial judge's
upholding of the landlord's exercise of forfeiture rights by
peaceable re-entry under a lease comprise ground floor A1/A2/A3 or
A5 premises with a flat above contained in the same lease. The flat
is then usually occupied by a manager in the business.
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Distraining
for commercial arrears: the proposed new procedure
The ability of commercial landlords to seize and sell tenants’
goods to pay rent arrears (a process known as ‘levying distress’)
may soon be abolished.
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| Paying
Rent at Break Dates : Tenants Beware and Landlords
Collect!
If a commercial lease is silent on the apportionment of rent and
provides for rent to be payable in advance without deduction or set
off, then this may mean that a tenant may be liable for rent
covering a period after the break date.
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residential
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Disability discrimination - a bizarre judgment and a
warning to landlords (August 2007)
The Court of Appeal (CA) judgment handed down on 25 July 2007 in
the case of London Borough of Lewisham -v- Malcolm (Disability
Rights Commission intervening) overturning a possession order
against the tenant, Mr Malcolm, must surely rank as one of the most
significant in recent times.
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Possession
claims online
From 30 October 2006, an online scheme for making possession
claims for residential property (PCOL) went live.
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Housing benefit and
arrears: no excuse
Housing officers will be familiar with the problem of arriving
at court with a view to securing a mandatory possession order, only
to find that the hearing is adjourned because the tenant claims not
to have received housing benefit to which he was entitled.
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| Avoiding
calamity...mediating neighbour disputes
Lord Justice Mummery’s recent judgment in Bradford v James
[2008] EWCA Civ 837 could not have been more encouraging of the use
of mediation in neighbour disputes and rightly so.
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social housing
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social housing news
The Social Housing team's regular bulletin highlighting
topical issues relevant to the social housing sector.
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