An easement (such as a right of way) is a right over someone else’s land. A right of easement, once granted, is quite often forgotten about. However, a recent case shows how important it can be to make sure that an easement does not lapse through...

Litigation can be expensive and there are good reasons in many cases for achieving a resolution by mediation when possible. The best course of action will depend on the individual circumstances of the case. Recently, a court case was settled after a...

Social Housing providers will greet a recent decision of the Supreme Court with relief. The Court upheld a local council’s decision that it had discharged its duty to secure accommodation for persons who were homeless by sending each of them a...

Little publicised, but nonetheless important for many private landlords, are changes implemented by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Order 2010 , which mean that, in certain circumstances, a landlord wishing to let out a...

Most people – and certainly those who have been involved in an opposed planning application – know what a NIMBY is but, following a case heard in the Supreme Court, we may now see the rise of NOOViGs (not on our village greens). The reason for...

Construction projects inevitably lead to a large number of contracts being created between the various contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and developers involved. This in turn can produce problems in the event of a dispute, as it can be difficult to...

Insolvencies have been running at a high rate for some time now, presenting problems for landlords and tenants alike. It should be remembered that the expenses of the administration of an insolvent company rank for payment before debts due to unsecured...

Many developers have been faced with the problem of having to persuade buyers who bought ‘off plan’ before the credit crunch struck to complete their purchases in the light of the subsequent decline in property prices. If you are faced with such...

When a tenant’s lease is governed by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 , the landlord has limited grounds for refusing to renew the lease. One possible ground is that the landlord wishes to make use of the premises for its own business purposes. In a ...

A company that was part of a group recently found that it had breached its lease when a corporate reorganisation was carried out. The problem arose because the lease on the company’s premises contained a clause that the tenant company was allowed to...

Following a refusal of planning permission, it is far from unusual for the unsuccessful application to be amended and re-submitted in the hope that, the second time, the outcome will be different. A recent case arose from this situation,...

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has been campaigning for the past few years to try to encourage more commercial landlords to accept monthly rental payment arrangements instead of the quarterly payments commonly used. Although the BRC began pushing for...

Builders and homeowners who wish to delay the start of building projects in these troubled times can breathe more easily now that the time limits for extensions to planning permissions have been lengthened. From 1 October 2009, an application to extend the...

In a recent case, the courts had to consider the legality of a commercial arrangement undertaken by a bank with a company, the effect of which was to allow the company to ‘stand in its shoes’ with regard to a commercial lease. At issue was...

If a landlord has concealed or misrepresented facts, it can be ordered to pay a departing commercial tenant compensation for any damages or loss sustained by the tenant that arise as a result of having to quit the premises. The legislation bringing this...

A recent case illustrates how complex building disputes can become when there are changes ‘on the fly’ to the work being carried out and the related paperwork does not keep pace. In the case in point, a contractor’s contract to fit out a...

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA), a tenant normally has the right to renewal of a lease on commercial premises unless the landlord requires occupation of the premises for its own purposes, which may include the purpose of redeveloping the site....

A recent case shows how important the wording of a planning consent is. It concerned a quarrying company which was engaged in the extraction of limestone from a quarry in the Peak District. There was opposition to the quarrying which led to a review of the...

People who want to buy a property but do not currently have the means to do so, or who simply want to be guaranteed the opportunity to buy it during a specified period or at some future date, will often undertake an option agreement with the owner. Under...

With times being tough, unexpected traps in agreements are coming to light with greater regularity. A recent landlord and tenant case shows the sort of thing that can happen if insufficient attention is paid in negotiation to clauses that might seem...

Landlords seeking to recover service charges in circumstances which require that a notice be served on the tenants should make sure they serve the relevant notice correctly! In a recent case, a landlord had to do works on a building and sought to recover the...

The 2007 case involving Persimmon Homes and landowner Chartbrook Ltd. has now been decided in the House of Lords. The case turned on the meaning of an agreement which contained a ‘grammatical ambiguity’, which applied to a formula used to...

The widow of a man who died as a result of being exposed to asbestos while working at an oil refinery many years earlier has been awarded more than £300,000 in compensation in the High Court. Frances Streets’ husband began his career working for...

Occupiers of business premises are reminded that appeals against the rateable values of their premises (based on the 1 April 2008 valuation)  must be made by the end of this week. That valuation will affect your rates bill from April 2010. The...

A man who fell from a London bus and suffered severe head injuries has been awarded a seven-figure compensation settlement. Vincenzo Bollito, a 36-year-old designer, was between the doors of the bus when the driver closed them and accelerated down the road....