Denholm v Stobbs [2016] UKUT 288 (LC) (aka “12 Needham Road”) – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in appeals, leases, news, tribunals by sally

‘In a decision which post-dated Sloane Stanley v Mundy, the Upper Tribunal, arrived at relativity by making a deduction from the Gerald Eve graph on the basis that the graph “might overstate relativities” and accepted, on the material before it, that there was a “slight differential between properties in PCL and properties just outside it”.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 1st November 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Airbnb – a wonderful idea or is it? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in covenants, hotels, landlord & tenant, leases, mortgages, news, nuisance by sally

‘Airbnb seems like a wonderful idea. You can rent out your flat whenever convenient without having to become a full-time landlord or hotelier. It’s an easy way to earn a little extra cash with the added bonus of a world-wide network of other people’s spare rooms available for that well-deserved weekend break. Airbnb now has 60m users, 640,000 “hosts”, 2m listings and 500,000 stays per night. It’s big!’

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Tanfield Chambers, 22nd October 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

The 13th Programme – New Law Journal

Posted September 28th, 2016 in inquiries, Law Commission, leases, marriage, news, surrogacy by sally

‘What should the Law Commission include in its next programme of law reform? Kathleen Shields discusses some options’

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New Law Journal, 15th September 2016

Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk

Airbnb – a quick buck or a catastrophic mistake? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted August 23rd, 2016 in covenants, holidays, housing, internet, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘The last few years have seen short term property letting sites such as Airbnb become the go-to way of booking holiday accommodation in Europe’s most popular cities. Millennial tourists are rejecting stuffy, expensive hotels, preferring instead the flexibility of their own apartment right in the middle of town where, in the words of Airbnb, they can “feel at home anywhere in the world”. In response, those who are lucky enough to own or occupy a city apartment have been quick to meet the demand, with new “hosts” joining the site every day. There are Airbnb kiosks on London’s high streets where tourists can book a property like they used to book a cab.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 5th August 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

County court: restricting sunlight to a tenant’s flat could be breach of leasehold covenant – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 19th, 2016 in covenants, landlord & tenant, leases, news, right to light by tracey

‘Development work that restricts natural sunlight to property can in principle be a breach of a ‘quiet enjoyment’ covenant in a lease, even where no formal right to light exists, according to the county court.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 17th August 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

High Court: tenant’s failure to remove partitioning meant no vacant possession – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 11th, 2016 in landlord & tenant, leases, news by tracey

‘A tenant was unable to exercise a break clause in a commercial lease due to its failure to remove partitioning that it had installed. This meant it had not provided vacant possession of the property, which was required by the lease as a condition of effective exercise of the break clause, the High Court has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 11th August 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

A judge by any other name would smell… much the same – Hardwicke Chambers

‘Did you know that a judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) may be able to hear a county court case and vice versa? Under a scheme being piloted at present, such a thing is indeed possible.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 13th June 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Sloane Stanley v Mundy and others – Tanfield Chambers

Posted July 12th, 2016 in housing, leases, news, tribunals, valuation by sally

‘The claims involved the valuation of premiums under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The UTLC listed three applications for the specific purpose of considering the validity of a hedonic regression model (“the Parthenia model”) to determine leasehold relativity. The Tribunal indicated the approach to be adopted for assessing relativity for different lease lengths and commented on the use of published relativity graphs.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 21st June 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Management Issues at Mixed-Use Developments – Tanfield Chambers

Posted July 12th, 2016 in consultations, covenants, enfranchisement, housing, leases, news, service charges by sally

‘By their very nature, mixed-use developments involve multiple parties with competing interests. This often leads to disputes regarding the management of the estate and the cost of maintaining it and, ultimately, to leaseholders wanting to take control (either by exercising the right to collective enfranchisement or the right to manage).’

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Tanfield Chambers, 10th June 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Stamp Duty Land Tax – Tanfield Chambers

Posted July 12th, 2016 in enfranchisement, housing, leases, news, stamp duty, taxation by sally

‘Does the 3% second home surcharge apply to statutory lease extensions and enfranchisement under the 1993 and 1967 Acts?’

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Tanfield Chambers, 6th June 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corpn and another – WLR Daily

Posted June 3rd, 2016 in covenants, landlord & tenant, law reports, leases by sally

Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corpn and another [2016] EWHC 1075 (Ch)

‘The tenant occupied the ground and basement floors of a building from which it operated a gallery. The lease contained terms reserving the landlord’s right to build and a covenant for quiet enjoyment. In order to carry out works on the adjoining upper floors of the building, the landlord erected scaffolding, which enveloped the building, restricting access to the tenant’s gallery and giving the impression that it was closed. The works also caused substantial noise in the tenant’s premises. No financial compensation was offered by the landlord to the tenant for the works undertaken.’

WLR Daily, 10th May 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Deferment Rate Revisited – Tanfield Chambers

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in enfranchisement, housing, leases, news, tribunals, valuation by sally

‘The deferment rate is a key input in every enfranchisement claim whether it relates to the enfranchisement of a house, block of flats or the extension of a flat lease. The current deferment rate was set by the Lands Tribunal in Earl Cadogan v Sportelli [2007] 1 EGLR 153. This article explains what the deferment rate is and how the Tribunal arrived at the value which has been universally adopted since the decision in Sportelli. It then explores the status of the decision in Sportelli and asks whether it is time to re-set the deferment rate. The last part of the article looks at deferment rates for shorter leases.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 31st May 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Beware of residential rights – Tanfield Chambers

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘With the constant cry for more housing, commercial developers are increasingly including residential flats in their plans. Whether they are converting offices into homes or building new mixed-use schemes, developers must be aware of the raft of rights that residential tenants enjoy which are not available to commercial tenants. With some careful planning, some of these rights can be avoided.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 31st May 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Practical advice on forfeiture – Hardwicke Chambers

‘The tail-end of 2015 threw up one of those London bus-type quirks where in less than a fortnight I acted for a landlord, a lessee and a mortgagee in three cases concerning, at least in part, the issues of (a) service of forfeiture proceedings, and (b) the defendant’s non-attendance at the first hearing at which a possession order was made.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 19th April 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Saving the bank’s security after it is too late… – Tanfield Chambers

Posted April 26th, 2016 in banking, forfeiture, landlord & tenant, leases, news, setting aside by sally

‘It is a requirement of the court rules that when a landlord seeks to forfeit a residential lease by issuing a claim in court, that claim must be served on a mortgagee. The purpose of this provision is to make sure that the bank is able to apply for relief from forfeiture (and hence reinstate its security) before it is too late. But what happens if the bank is served with the claim, the tenant and the bank do not attend the hearing, the lease is forfeited and the possession order subsequently enforced with the result that title is closed and the bank loses its security?’

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Tanfield Chambers, 21st April 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Moorjani v Durban Estates – Tanfield Chambers

Posted April 26th, 2016 in appeals, damages, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, news, repairs by sally

‘Housing practitioners are familiar with the routine claim for disrepair in respect of short-life tenancies. However, such claims are rarely encountered with long residential leases and whilst they are unlikely to raise any particular problems with liability, they may do so as regards causation and the quantification of damages. This can be seen by considering the two main types of damage sustained.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 19th April 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Sinclair Gardens Investments (Kensington) Ltd v Ray [2015] EWCA Civ 1247 – Tanfield Chambers

Posted April 26th, 2016 in appeals, evidence, judgments, leases, news, valuation by sally

‘A previous decision of the Upper Tribunal is admissible evidence of what it decided and it is a question of what weight a subsequent tribunal should give it. The extent to which the previous decision is a decision on general points of interest rather than specific facts and the cogency of the reasoning will impact on the weight to be given to a particular decision.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 19th April 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Replacing carpets owned by landlord was not breach of repair clause, says Court of Appeal – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 25th, 2016 in appeals, damages, interpretation, landlord & tenant, leases, news, repairs by sally

‘A commercial property tenant did not breach repair covenants set out in the lease when it replaced carpet tiles in the property with strip carpeting, the Court of Appeal has ruled, overturning the High Court’s decision.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 21st April 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

The impact of new consumer regulations – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted April 13th, 2016 in consumer protection, contracts, drafting, EC law, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

‘On 1 October 2015 the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (“CRA”) came into force. CRA superseded the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (“UTCCR”). The CRA aims to modernise, simplify and consolidate key parts of consumer law; it is the cornerstone of an extensive consumer law reform programme. Anyone acting in a landlord and tenant dispute or drafting tenancy or lease agreement needs to be familiar with its provisions’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 11th March 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Commercial Landlord & Tenant Law – New Square Chambers

‘In 2011, Marks and Spencer plc (“M&S”) operated a “break clause” in commercial leases of office premises. Following determination, M&S sought to recover from the landlord advance quarterly rent that it had paid for the period after the successful break. M&S relied, in part, on an implied term claim that post-break rent should be returned to it. The landlord denied the claim and litigation ensued. Morgan J in the High Court gave judgment for M&S on the claim. The Court of Appeal unanimously reversed the judgment. The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed M&S’ appeal and re-stated the principles for the implication of contract terms: Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd[2015] UKSC 72, [2015] 3 WLR 1843.’

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New Square Chambers, 11th April 2016

Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk