The problem Packemin Apartments Limited (“PA”) acquires a plot of prime development land for the construction of a block of luxury flats. Unfortunately, the land in question (“Plot A”) has no direct access to the main public highway. In order to obtain the required access to this public highway PA has to obtain the grant […]
1st Jun 2013 Speakers Corner Read moreIntroduction 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 […]
22nd May 2013 Speakers Corner Read moreService by post re-visited: Freetwon V Assethold 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 […]
5th Feb 2013 Speakers Corner Read moreTransaction or no transaction? That is the question How damages for professional negligence are often assessed in the context of residential and commercial conveyancing. It has been said that the assessment of damages for professional negligence is more of an art than a science. Nowhere is this more true than in the context of residential […]
1st Jan 2013 Speakers Corner Read moreIs the case of Edwards & Walkden v City of London consistent with the O’May decision in relation to changing terms of business tenancies on renewal or does it evidence a change in the approach of the Court? Introduction On 21.09.2012 Mr Justice Sales gave judgment in the trial of two preliminary issues in the […]
30th Nov 2012 Speakers Corner Read moreContext Where there is a tenancy to which part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and the procedural requirements of sections 25 or 26 of that Act have been fulfilled, the statute imposes an obligation on the Court to grant a new tenancy save in very limited circumstances. Under section 24(1): “A tenancy […]
1st Jan 2012 Speakers Corner Read moreIntroduction 1. The definition of “house” in s.2(1) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 has given rise to considerable difficulties in the 45 years since it was enacted. This year, there have been two further appellate decisions on the definition – Hosebay v Day [2012] 1 WLR 2884 in the Supreme Court (where Lord Carnwath […]
1st Jan 2012 Speakers Corner Read moreAt their recent annual conference, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Dilapidations Forum delegates soundly rejected any suggestion that the PLA Protocol should be scrapped. Inevitably though there are calls for the detail of the document to be revised (dilapidations surveyors are nothing if not persistent when it comes to finding disagreement!). It is […]
1st Jan 2009 Speakers Corner Read moreWith the surge in mortgage repossessions, and a large buy-to-let market, it is timely to revisit the issue of the priority (or otherwise) of tenants in relation to mortgagees seeking possession. As a general proposition a tenancy granted before the mortgage is usually binding on the mortgagee. One route normally deployed by the mortgagee is […]
19th Aug 2008 Speakers Corner Read moreWhen a contract for the sale of property falls through, the normal expectation is that where the fault lies with the buyer, the deposit paid on exchange of contracts will be forfeited. However, the Court is given a wide discretion to order the return of the deposit to the buyer. The precise extent of that […]
3rd Jul 2008 Speakers Corner Read more