News and Articles

Even if a tree is protected by a preservation order, it can be lopped or felled if necessary to prevent a nuisance.

Unless commercial landlords and their agents deal with the recovery of service charges with proper scrupulousness, tenants may refuse to enter Leases which provide for full recovery of service charges or may require these charges to be regulated by statute.

The Courts are sometimes prepared to grant immediate injunctions requiring tenants to perform their obligations to their landlords.

An enforcement notice served by a local authority in respect of a breach of planning was held to be invalid as it was served out of time.

The Secretary of State was entitled to consent to the sale of fish and meat at Covent Garden Market provided that did not constitute a fish and meat market.

Oral contracts for the sale of land are normally of no effect but they can be enforceable in certain circumstances.

The High Court has determined what further terms should be contained in a Licence Agreement for use of some additional land during the holding of the British Motor Cycle Grand Prix each year (Donington Park Leisure Limited v Wheatcroft & Son Limited (7 April 2006)).

Tenants were successful in having an order for forfeiture of their lease set aside despite having failed to attend the hearing at which the order was made.

Notices are very important in the day-to-day life of a property lawyer. A client’s legal rights will frequently be exercisable by the service of a notice.

My current legal “pet hate” relates to residential service charges and the failure of the law to cater for a very common situation, namely a tenant-owned block of flats. I admit this is personal because I have first hand experience of the headache that comes with being company secretary but even professionally I have encountered many situations where the law just does not sit well with the way it is in “the real world”.