In Nogueira v Westminster the Upper Tribunal had to deal with a rather odd decision of the First Tier Tribunal (called the "F-tT" in the report - an orthography I shall avoid). To cut what must have been a long story short, the case was about major...
Hedonic regression and relativity
The question of the use of hedonic regression in the calculation of relativity is, I suspect, not breakfast table conversation for some of our readers even if it would appear that in the bars of Chelsea they talk of nothing else. The Upper...
Don’t ask the surveyor
Windermere Marina Village v Wild [2014] UKUT 163 (LC) is an important decision about the vexed question of apportionment that arises in many residential service charge disputes. Many residential leases for flats divide up the total service charge...
A Shakespearean review
I wonder if I could beg your indulgence while I ride a small hobby-horse of my own. As well as being a (sadly occasional) blogger here at NL, I have other hats. One of those hats is as a champion of open data and in that capacity I sit on a body...
Flats less risky
At least less risky for property investors. That is the basis of the Upper Tribunal's decision in Voyvoda v Grosvenor West End Properties, which we have managed to miss reporting because of the Summer break. Voyvoda is all about the "deferment...
Without lawful authority? The houseboats strike again
People live in boats. In some cities, such as Cambridge and London, living in a houseboat may be an affordable way somewhere where house prices would otherwise make that impossible. On so slender thread as that we at nearly legal have reported a...
The tenant is dead, long live the tenant
Our attention was drawn to a decision in the Medway County Court, presumably because it considered a proportionality defence. I'm not sure there's much to see there — one of the team said that he was not "remotely excited about it". But it...
Estoppel and s.2 – will we find out?
In the Summer Dave and David Smith posted about the case of Kinnear v Whittaker in the High Court. Bean J allowed an appeal against the summary disposal of a possession claim where the defendant had raised proprietary estoppel as a defence. This...
Trial Separation
Quigley v Masterson [2011] EWHC 2529 (Ch) raises an interesting point about the severance of a beneficial joint tenancy. The background is sadly familiar. The late Mr Pilkington formed a relationship with Mrs Masterson. They lived together in a...
Not Ashored
Awful title due to NL himself. Mew v Tristmire concerned whether or not two "houseboats" were "dwelling houses let as separate dwellings" as required in section 1 of the Housing Act 1988 in order for them to be assured tenancies. The "houseboats"...
Rough pasture – another caravan story
Two interesting points were decided by the Court of Appeal in Murphy v Wyatt: Where there is an agreement permitting a mobile home to be stationed on land which does not have planning permission for use as a caravan site (and therefore does not...
Defamation again: Mrs Clift wins in the Court of Appeal
Last year I blogged about Mrs Clift winning a claim for defamation against Slough Borough Council. The facts are in the earlier post. Slough's appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal in Clift v Slough Borough Council [2010] EWCA Civ 1171. While...