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 works to a large block. The freeholders had […]
Author Archives: Francis Davey
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 Tribunal’s decision in Re: 47 Phillimore Gardens (available on the Upper Tribunal […]
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 bill between flat owners in some fixed proportion. For example in a block of four flats, each flat might bear […]
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 known as the […]
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 rate” used in enfranchisement cases. I am sure most of our readers’ eyes will […]
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 number of houseboat cases, even though the points in issue might seem […]
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 caught my eye. To be fair, one cannot always tell from a […]
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 interesting and important question about the interaction between estoppel and s.2 of […]
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 house as joint legal and beneficial tenants. Their relationship broke down and Mrs Masterson (together with […]
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” appear to have been converted WWII landing craft that were, in the event, […]
