Tenant assigning to Guarantor void and no release
Were it possible, on an assignment of a typical post 1995 lease by a tenant (“T1”) to its guarantor (“G1”): 1. T1 would be released from the tenant covenants of the tenancy, with effect from the...
View ArticleInitial assessment valuation was not interim payment application
In Jawaby Property Investment Ltd v The Interiors Group Ltd & Anor [2016] the issue arose whether a valuation amounted to an interim payment application by the contractor (“TIG”). The High Court...
View ArticleAffordable housing contribution could be removed despite occupation of all...
Section 106BA of Town & Country (Planning) Act 1990 (“the Act”) says an English planning obligation that contains an affordable housing requirement can be modified, replaced, removed or discharged...
View ArticleRemoval of planning condition abolished claimants’ loss
In the Court of Appeal case of Bacciottini & Anor v Gotelee and Goldsmith (A Firm) [2016], the appellants had acquired a residential property in May 2007. The respondent solicitors had negligently...
View ArticleSolicitors’ application to Land Registry was negligent misstatement
What follows is a cautionary tale. In Chief Land Registrar v Caffrey & Co [2016] clients sent their solicitors a Form DS1 Land Registry discharge purportedly signed on behalf of their bank to...
View ArticleMortgage clause did not sweep up all borrower’s present and future assets
In the Land Registry Adjudicator case of Bonsu v Flex Mortgages Ltd [2016] the borrower had charged the Property, and any rights they may have relating to it, to the lender with full title guarantee by...
View ArticleContracts: Duty to use reasonable endeavours can survive cut-off date
Where a sale contract is conditional on one party obtaining an acceptable planning permission and that party agrees to use all reasonable endeavours to fulfill that condition as soon as possible, that...
View ArticleVAT: Construction work to residential personal care home zero rated
A hospital is an institution within (a) building(s) providing medical treatment and associated care, usually on a short term basis for the treatment, cure or betterment of a medical condition. Work in...
View ArticleCPO Valuation: Tribunal deletes Affordable Housing assumption
Where land is compulsorily acquired the owner can apply under section 17 of the Land Compensation Act 1961 (“the 1961 Act”) for a certificate of appropriate alternative development (“CAAD”). In the...
View ArticleOwner owed measured duty of care to contain damp
A person may owe a “measured duty of care” to take reasonable steps to resolve or reduce hazards on that person’s land, which that person either foresaw, or which that person ought reasonably to have...
View ArticleOut of date assessments no barrier to development plan or CIL Schedule
Challenges to a local planning authority’s adoption of a development plan document will rarely succeed. The task of testing the soundness of a development plan document is a matter for planning...
View ArticleService of Enforcement Notice: owner’s address could be from Land Register
In the High Court case of London Borough of Newham v Miah & Anor [2016] it was ruled that if a local authority is not provided with a current address by the owner of property, it is entitled to use...
View ArticleContract: party had effectively waived the requirement for it’s signature
In what circumstances will a contract result when a written offer document states that it is not binding until signed by the offeree and the offeree does not sign but nevertheless performs in the...
View ArticleContractual requirement for notice to remedy breach did not apply to repudiation
A contractual termination clause may impose a requirement first to give the other party notice to remedy the breach if it can be remedied. Will this apply to a contractual termination clause where a...
View ArticleLandlords should have given tenant new address for service
Many cases concern the validity of notices served by tenants where they seek to exercise a contractual break clause. Leases frequently incorporate the regulations as to service of notices contained in...
View Article“Private car park” sign: denied property rights by long use by customers
Where a neighbour claims a right of way over a landowner’s land by long use, does it matter that the use has not been by them, or their agents, but instead, for example, by their customers such that it...
View ArticleConstruction: Adjudicator’s powers survived “binding settlement”
Section 108 of the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 says: “(1) A party to a construction contract has the right to refer a dispute arising under the contract for adjudication under...
View ArticleSDLT claimed from wrong party in case of Shari’a financing
In Project Blue Ltd v Revenue and Customs [2016] the issue for the Court of Appeal was whether Project Blue Limited (“PBL”) was liable for stamp duty land tax (“SDLT”) for its acquisition of the former...
View ArticleFire escape right implied from common intention
In Nickerson v Barraclough [1981] Eveleigh LJ said: “Section 62 [of the Law of Property Act 1925] says: ‘A conveyance of land shall be deemed to include…’ a number of things, all of which are clearly...
View ArticleVAT: DIY Housebuilders – relaxation of residency restriction too late for refund
For DIY house builders to be able to recover input VAT from HMRC under Section 35 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 several conditions must be fulfilled. For one thing statutory planning consent must...
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