The Supreme Court has handed down its judgment in the long-awaited appeal of Rock Advertising Limited v MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited [2018] UKSC 24, a case which the court describes as “exceptional” on the basis it concerns two ...
Gateway Assets Limited v C.V Panels Limited [2018] CSOH 48 A tenant had a ten year lease with a break option after 5 years, which could be exercised by giving not less than 6 months’ written notice to the landlord. When the tenant served a bre...
Ryan Fisher Vinyl & Carpet Showroom RA/94/2017 Thorntons plc and Clarions Solicitors Limited RA/80/2017 and RA/93/2017 The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has handed down two decisions recently which have highlighted the Tribunal’s pragmati...
Commodity Solution services Limited and Charles Henry Sands v First Scottish Searching Services Limited [2018] SC DUNE 74 In Scotland, inhibitions are a method of debt recovery designed to prevent a debtor selling or disposing of heritable property ...
Warborough Investments Limited v Lunar Office SARL [2018] EWCA Civ 427 The Court of Appeal has held that, contrary to the decision at first instance, the sub-clauses of a lease setting out the terms for permitting underletting should be read cumula...
A new approach A recent ruling by Coulson J represents a significant departure from the line of cases which paved the way for “smash and grab” adjudications. Since ISG v Seevic (2014) and Galliford Try v Estura (2015) an employer that fa...
Scottish Parliament brings forward Bill to introduce new “group proceedings” procedure in Scotland The Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Bill (the ‘Bill’) is currently making its way through the Sco...
Tonicstar Limited v Allianz Insurance Plc [2017] EWHC 2753 (Comm) A contract of reinsurance, triggered by the 9/11 attacks, contained provisions requiring the respondent to appoint an arbitrator: "Unless the parties otherwise agree the arbitration t...
(1) Stephen Charles Smyth-Tyrrell (2) Beaujolois Katherine Smyth-Tyrrell –v- William Robert Bowden (2018) Recovery of possession of land by a landlord against his tenant is not always an easy business. In this particular case, the tenant...
Modification and discharge of restrictive covenants! In the matter of an application by Paul Holden (2018) Many properties are bound by restrictive covenants, which restrict the use to which the property in question may be put. Restrictive cov...
Sackville UK Property Select II (GP) No 1 Ltd & Sackville UK Property Select II Nominee (1) Ltd v Robertson Taylor Insurance Broker Ltd and (2) Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd [2018] EWHC 122 (Ch) Serving break notices to end leases can be a risky...
This is another important Scottish Sheriff Court case on the competency of an assignation of standard securities (secured charges). It follows two recent conflicting cases of OneSavings Bank v Burns, where the court found in favour of the borr...
The new Electronic Communications Code (“the Code”) received royal assent on 27 April 2017, as part of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (“the Act”). The Code came into force on 28 December 2017.
Westmark (Lettings) Limited v Elizabeth Peddle and others [2017] UKUT 449 (LC) Here, the Upper Tribunal had to decide on the issue of when “relevant costs” are incurred for the purposes of Section 20(B)(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act ...
Pezaro & Anor v Bourne & Anor [2019] EWHC 1964 (Ch) The High Court has held that a right of way was not extinguished where a landowner had relied on an oral agreement made with the previous owner of the land which benefited from the right of...
Seafood Shack Ltd v Alan Darlow [2019] EWHC 1567 (Ch) A lease of restaurant premises was granted to a company that did not exist; there was no legal basis for correcting the lease, and the similarly-named company claiming rights was held to have non...
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire, has published the Government’s response to the consultation on leasehold reform. Described as delivering on the Government’s manifesto pledge to &ld...
Windsor-Clive v Rees [2019] EWHC 1008 (Ch) In considering the scope of a landlord’s reserved right to enter premises let to their tenant “for all reasonable purposes”, the High Court has held that the right to do so must be...
Blue Manchester LTD v North West Ground Rents LTD [2019] EWHC 142 (TCC) The High Court confirmed earlier this year that landlords must consider aesthetic appearance when assessing repairs as they may be obliged to reinstate original design features....
Co-operative Group Food Ltd v A & A Shah Properties Ltd [2019] EWHC 941 (Ch) A recent case saw the court wrestle with the difficulties sometimes encountered with guarantee provisions and the way in which they are drafted. The landlord A & A ...
Ury Estate Limited v BP Exploration Operating Company Limited [2019] CSOH 36 A landowner raised a court action against BP seeking compensation for their inability to develop land due to a presence of an oil pipeline. The proposed development w...
Alexander Kuznetsov v Camden London Borough Council [2019] EWHC 805 (Ch) In an application for relief from sanctions, the Claimant tenant, Kuznetsov, persuaded the High Court that it had a real prospect of establishing at trial that a letter between...
Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (Valuation Officer) [2019] UKSC 23 By a majority 3:2 decision, the Supreme Court has overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (Valuation Officer) [2018] EWCA Civ 26. The case...
(1) SHB Realisations Ltd and (2) GB Europe Management Service Ltd v (1) Cribbs Mall Nominee (1) Ltd and (2) Cribbs Mall Nominee (2) Ltd. The County Court recently considered a claim for relief from forfeiture involving premises previously occupied b...
New Crane Wharf Freehold Ltd v Jonathan Mark Dovener [2019] UKUT 98 (LC) A lease covenant requiring the tenant defendant, Mr Dovener, to permit its landlord at al...
Wells v Devani [2019] UKSC 4 Earlier this year the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the claimant, Devani, an estate agent and the defendant, Wells, a property developer had entered into a binding oral contract. The parties were introduced by a...
(1) Giles Duncan Fearn (2) Gerald Kraftman (3) Ian Mcfadyen (4) Helen Claire McFadyen (5) Lindsay Urquart –v- The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2019] EWHC 246 (Ch) The High Court has dismissed a claim by residents of luxury glass-fron...
Warwickshire Aviation Ltd & 6 Ors v Littler Investments Ltd [2019] EWHC 633 Tenants of an airfield recently failed in their appeal to the High Court to show that their landlord wasn’t able to oppose new leases being granted to them pursuan...
Churston Golf Club Ltd v Richard Haddock [2019] EWCA Civ 544 The Court of Appeal has overturned both the High Court and earlier County Court decisions and found that a covenant to fence should not be treated as a fencing easement capable of binding ...
Robert James Oakley, Carolyn Oakley, Jonathan Mark Page, Union Pension Trustees Limited, Morgan Lloyd Trustees Limited v Harper McKay Developments Limited [2018] EWHC 3405 (Ch) The Court recently had to consider whether claimant sellers were entitle...
Shirley Ann Thorpe v (1) Harald Nobert Frank (2) Lesley Frank [2019] EWCA Civ 150 The Court of Appeal has recently found that by paving an area an individual had done enough to establish that she had acquired the land by adverse possession. The Clai...
At the end of last year the High Court was asked to decide the proper meaning of a rent deposit deed relating to a deposit of over £2 million. The deposit allowed the landlord security for, amongst others, "any proper loss which the landlord m...
Cine-UK Limited v Union Square Developments Ltd [2019] CSOH 3 A landlord and tenant couldn’t agree revised rent due in terms of a rent review. An expert surveyor was appointed to determine the issue in accordance with the provisions of the lea...
Ramoyle Developments Limited v Scottish Borders Council [2019] CSOH 1 A local authority entered a contract to sell an area of land for regeneration. Either party to the contract was entitled to withdraw from the sale if the purchasers failed t...
Ashtead Plant Hire Company Limited v Granton Central Developments Limited [2019] CSOH 7 This case involves a landlord and tenant dispute over the proper construction of the rent review provisions in a lease of commercial premises. The parties ...
Bracken Hill Court at Ackworth Management Company Ltd v Dobson [2018] UKUT 333 (LC) The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has upheld an appeal from a management company and determined that contracts of less than 12 months are not Qualifying Long T...
The Alexander Devine Children's Cancer Trust v Millgate Developments Ltd and others [2018] EWCA Civ 2679 The Court of Appeal has refused to allow a property developer to modify a set of restrictive covenants, reversing the decision of the Upper Trib...
UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council [2018] UKSC 67 Although on the topic of service of a rates notice, this Supreme Court case provides general guidance on the service of notices, relevant to most property cases. A local authority served a...
Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd v European Medicines Agency The impact of Brexit upon property disputes has not been wide ranging thus far. However, a case which is set for trial in the early part of 2019 may alter that position and potential...
Farakh Rashid v Teyub Nasrullah (Acting as Executor of the Estate of the late Mohammed Rashid) [2018] EWCA Civ 2685 The Court of Appeal has decided that a registered owner of land can also be in adverse possession of the same land. The late Mohammed...
Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council [2018] EWCA Civ 2532 Relevant background: The Court of Appeal has issued a decision that has rendered a development contract between a Council and a private developer for the regeneration of an indust...
The path to establishing a UK management entity for an offshore fund branches off in all manner of directions. One of the first crossroads faced by the first-time manager is the choice of UK management vehicle. Their decision has significan...
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (“SFC”) issued two circulars on 7 January 2020 providing guidance on its approach to licensing private equity (“PE”) firms and family offices to carry out regulated activitie...
The SFC Moves to Regulate Depositaries of SFC-authorised Collective Investment Schemes In September 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the “SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper (available here) setting out its proposa...
When it comes to hedge strategies, onshore FCA-authorised fund vehicles may offer some unique advantages with fewer drawbacks than you might think. When it comes to authorised funds - as in a fund authorised as a product, by a regulator &ndas...
On 7 August 2018, ESMA published a letter from Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, to Gabriel Bernardino, EIOPA Chair. The letter addressed the question of whether ESMA would consider borrowing arrangements and derivative arrangements entered into by an Alt...
On 12 March 2018, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published legislative proposals for new rules on marketing AIFs and UCITS comprising: a Directive on the cross-border distribution of collective investment funds (COM(2018) 92...
The Luxembourg regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has provided guidance on the meaning of marketing and reverse solicitation under AIFMD. This guidance is to be welcomed, as there is no European-wide guidance on th...