A dispute over a £5000 drop in property value has gone all the way to the Supreme Court which, today, confirmed that you cannot recover damages for encroachment of Japanese knotweed on your land if this occurred before the...more
In IAA Vehicle Services Limited v HBC Limited, the High Court concluded that a deposit under the Standard Conditions of Sale fell due as soon as an option to purchase a freehold property was exercised, but that time was not...more
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA), which introduced the concept of high street rental auctions, received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. Part 10 of LURA allows local authorities to carry out mandatory...more
In Wolverhampton City Council and others v London Gypsies and Travellers and others, the Supreme Court has confirmed that injunctions can be imposed to prevent “newcomers” from occupying land unlawfully. That means that...more
In back to school week, the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in over 150 school buildings, posing a risk of collapse, dominated the headlines. However, the prevalence of RAAC in all kinds of local...more
Amid strong industry objection to its proposed rental auctions scheme for vacant high street premises, the government has launched an open consultation to seek views on matters that will form part of the scheme, first...more
In Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales has reaffirmed that encroachment of Japanese knotweed onto neighbouring land can amount to a nuisance and, for the first time, acknowledged...more
In their judgment this week in the case of Aviva Investors Ground Rent GP Limited v Williams, the Supreme Court has curtailed the First Tier Tribunal’s jurisdiction to intervene in residential service charges. The reduction...more
The Supreme Court has given its judgment in Fearn and others v Tate, and has widened the law on private nuisance to include being “overlooked” for the first time....more
Before the pandemic, a popular way for businesses to cut their operational costs was through a company voluntary arrangement. In the space of a few years, a long line of retailers and other occupiers used CVAs to reduce rents...more
How do you improve the image of company voluntary arrangements? Start by reforming the voting rules. A recent research paper commissioned by the Insolvency Service concluded that property owners were “broadly” treated...more
The company voluntary arrangement (CVA) is an insolvency process that has raised significant concern amongst commercial property owners in recent years about their use by tenant companies to change lease terms, write off...more
Residential property reform is high on the government's legislative agenda as announced in this week's Queen's Speech. Proposed changes to the rental market include banning the so-called no-fault evictions, a commitment to...more
Despite industry objection to the government's proposed rental auctions scheme for vacant high street premises, the government has published draft legislation aimed at doing exactly that. ...more
The government has introduced to Parliament draft new legislation in the form of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill which will establish a binding arbitration process for commercial landlords and tenants who have been...more
The High Court has dismissed an application by a landlord creditor to overturn a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) implemented by coffee shop chain Caffé Nero. The CVA, previously approved by its creditors, compromised...more
Following the government’s call for evidence in May this year, the government released the responses and analysis on 4 August 2021, along with an accompanying policy statement. These highlight the starkly differing views of...more
The UK Government yesterday announced that it will proceed with the phasing out of temporary measures introduced to protect businesses from creditor action during the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also announcing new measures to...more
National Car Parks' proposed restructuring plan aimed to write-off arrears, cut rents and close unwanted sites but why did the plan stall?
On 30 April 2021, National Car Parks launched its proposed restructuring plan,...more
In 2015, responding to mounting concerns about pre-pack administration sales, a set of voluntary industry measures were introduced to address the perceived lack of transparency and trust in the process – especially when the...more
10/8/2020
/ Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Governance Standards ,
Insolvency ,
Landlords ,
Real Estate Market ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
UK Insolvency Act
After much speculation the government has today announced that it will be extending protections that have been afforded to commercial tenants as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the current protections?
...more
On Tuesday the government laid before Parliament regulations making sweeping changes to the Use Classes Order.
The changes, which come into effect on 1 September 2020, represent a complete overhaul of the current Use...more
Most commercial leases require the tenant to pay its rent quarterly, and invariably include a provision allowing the landlord to forfeit if that rent has been unpaid for a period of time, e.g. 7, 14 or 21 days. Outside of...more
6/25/2020
/ Arrearages ,
Commercial Leases ,
Contract Terms ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Forfeiture ,
Landlords ,
Moratorium ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
Tenants ,
UK ,
Winding Up Petitions
It is hard for anyone in the development industry to ignore the impact that COVID-19 and the lockdown have had – be that on day to day construction works, development timelines and even the type of development we're likely to...more
RE: A COMPANY (INJUNCTION TO RESTRAIN PRESENTATION OF PETITION) -
The court considered an application for an injunction in light of the new Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill 2020 (“CIGB”), which was published on 20...more