Speakers' Corner

Michelle Caney St Ives Chambers August 2017

At the Property Litigation Association’s recent annual conference, Jonathan Seitler QC opened up his bag of tricks and shared with a delighted audience his favourite little-used – but hugely useful – provisions, rules and authorities that can be relied on to good effect at trial.

Caroline Shea QC, Falcon Chambers

The purpose of this paper is to examine briefly the three most common questions which I am asked assist on in relation to consent to assignment or sub-letting

The Land Registration Act 2002 (“the LRA 2002”) came into force 11 years ago. After 152 years of “the land registration project” over 80% of the land in England and Wales is registered. The Law Commissioner responsible for property projects, Professor Elizabeth Cooke, recently said: "the purpose of title registration is to guarantee title"

In the recent case of Szepietowski v The Serious Organised Crime Agency [2013] UKSC 65, the Supreme Court has reviewed the equitable doctrine of marshalling. There are comparatively few reported cases in this area, and the Szepietowski case therefore provides useful guidance as to when a second secured creditor will be entitled to rely on the doctrine.

The 3 recent break clause cases of Friends Life v Siemens Hearing (3 April 2014), Friends Life v A&A Express (9 May 2014) and M&S v BNP Paribas (14 May 2014) have all highlighted omissions or practical difficulties caused by the drafting of the break clauses in the Leases.

The recent Supreme Court decision in Coventry v Lawrence [2014] UKSC 13 raises interesting points relating to the tort of private nuisance and the remedies available to a successful Claimant, primarily in respect of nuisance arising from noise, but of wider importance on the issue of damages being granted in lieu of injunctive relief.

Property lawyers have not generally needed to take a great deal of notice of Human Rights law. Particularly in the field of commercial property the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 has been fairly minimal. The reason for this is that the HRA 1998 does not, generally, impose any obligations on private individuals. In the lexicon of human rights jargon, the effect of the Act is vertical not horizontal; that is to say it regulates relations between state and citizen and not between private individuals or companies.

1. In negotiations or proceedings for the renewal of a lease, parties often focus on the level of rent, the length of the new term, break options, rent review provisions and what “reasonable modernisation” entails. The extent of the demised premises and the treatment of fixtures installed during the previous terms(s) are not usually in the spotlight. In this short article the question is posed as to whether greater care needs to be given to the treatment of fixtures added during the earlier term: is there a real risk that tenants may inadvertently lose their right to remove their fixtures at the expiry of the new lease (or that landlords may inadvertently become burdened at the end of the term with fixtures that they did not bargain for and have to pay to be removed)?