Landlord, Tenant and Property
- The question as to what sort of organisations can be regarded as businesses came before the courts in a case involving a not-for-profit company which had failed to give the required notices to protect their tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954....
- Following a recent case in which a dispute regarding a property owner’s right to light was unexpectedly dealt with by the granting of an injunction against a developer, a more recent case has offered guidance on how much compensation might be payable...
- The Information Commissioner's best practice guide for landlords - written to to assist them in complying with the Data Protection Act can be downloaded from the Information Commissioner’s website . The guide includes a checklist which is intended to...
- One of the continuing sources of friction between landlords and tenants is the maintenance of buildings. Normally, the arguments are over inadequate maintenance, but a recent case dealt with problems which arose when a landlord repaired a building occupied...
- The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) – which was amended in 2005 – has caused concern amongst the owners of let properties for some time because of uncertainty as to the limits of their responsibilities to make the properties they let out...
- The Department for Constitutional Affairs has published the draft Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill. If enacted as it stands, it will deprive landlords of the ability to levy distress as presently used, thereby removing an effective weapon in cases of...
- Recent guidance has been given by the High Court on what constitutes a ‘material breach’ of a contract and the circumstances necessary for late payment to be regarded as serious enough to justify the termination of a contract.
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- A new code of practice for commercial leases has been released following a long consultation exercise involving landlords and other interested parties.
The code makes a number of changes to the substance and detail of current...
- Living ‘above the shop’ is quite common in the small business sector and where the premises are rented, the lease will cover both the business and residential parts of the property. However, the statutory basis for repossession is quite different...
- People who want to buy a property but do not currently have the means to do so, or who simply want to be guaranteed the opportunity to buy it during a specified period or at some future date, will often undertake an option agreement with the owner. Under such...
- Prospective purchasers and vendors of land frequently wish to ‘lock in’ the other party to the deal and the means by which this is done will normally involve the prospective vendor either giving the prospective purchaser an option to purchase the...
- Since October 2006, a new protocol has applied where a social landlord wishes to gain possession of a property occupied by a tenant under a secure tenancy, where possession is sought on the grounds of arrears of rent. It does not apply to claims in respect...
- Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a self-assessed tax. The onus is on the taxpayer to make the necessary land transaction return, calculate the tax and pay it across. This is a fundamental change. The old Stamp Duty regime taxed documents, so it was...
- It is very common, especially with building contracts, for work to be needed to be done by contractors after the expiry of the original contract. Recently, a case came to court in which a company that had obtained work under tender for Brunel University...
- The courts have recently given additional clarification on just how far a lessee can go in altering the layout of a property without either the landlord’s consent or breaching other terms of the lease. The case of Waycourt Ltd. v Viscount Chelsea...
- Development in rural areas presents a number of challenges for planning teams and developers alike. Whilst planning policy is clear that previously developed (i.e. “brown”) land is to be used for new housing in preference to undeveloped...
- The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations 1999 apply to any development likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of its size, nature or location. If a Local Authority fails to follow correctly the requirements and...
