News and Articles

Courts are reluctant to imply a repair obligation on a landlord of commercial premises.

Section 10 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (‘the Act’) provides a now well-known and established mechanism for resolving disputes between building owners and adjoining owners in respect of matters concerned with works to which the Act relates, that is principally building on the line of the junction between different lands (s.1), the repair or rebuilding of party walls (s.2), and works of excavation within a specified distance of the adjoining owner’s building (s.6). Under s.10(10) the ‘agreed surveyor’ appointed by the parties, or more usually the two surveyors appointed by each of them working together, or the ‘third surveyor’ appointed by the two surveyors, settle the dispute by making an award.

Surveyors or Architects acting for developers can owe substantial duties to purchasers.

The Property Litigation Association (“PLA”) represents 1,200 members. Members spend at least 50% of their time working on Property Litigation matters.

The Court is now giving useful guidance to surveyors re Terminal Dilapidations Claims.

This optional response form is provided for consultees’ convenience in responding to our Consultation Paper on Rights to Light.

Failure to respond or negotiate before proceedings can prove costly.

The Court will not allow a stalemate to arise.

Several property statutes contain a provision enabling a notice (or some other document) to be served by being “sent by post” (without prescribing any particular method of posting): see section 176(2) and (3) of the Housing Act 1985; section 54(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987; section 99(1) of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993; section 15(1) of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (“PWA 1996”); and section 111(1) of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

The High Court has considered whether owners who rebuild houses they live in are liable to purchasers under the Defective Premises Act 1972 In November 2009, Mr and Mrs Zennstrom agreed to buy a property overlooking the marina in Hamble, Southampton for £1.1 million. Mr Zennstrom was a co-founder of Skype.