Arnold v Britton [2012] EWHC 2451(Ch) is the third holiday chalet / service charge case we've covered in short order (the other two are here and here). Coincidence or evidence of a growth area of work I wonder? Anyway, back to the case. The issue was whether...
This seems to be taking a while
Back in May 2010, we covered the case of Philips v Francis (QBD, Truro District Registry) on whether or not holiday chalets let on long leases were "dwellings" within the meaning of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and, hence, the service charges payable by...
Post-Christmas lull
Those few days between Christmas and New Year were always quite a lot of fun in our household. You'd finally have the time to catch up on the excellent Christmas TV (i.e. you could watch the hours and hours of stuff you'd recorded on your video player)....
Nothing to see here
Just two short notes on recent UT(LC) cases that I was asked to cover. They're pretty unimportant in the scheme of things, but we do try to be comprehensive. In Freehold Managers (Nominees) Ltd v Piatti [2012] UKUT 241 (LC), the issue was the payment of an...
Welcome to the Property Chamber
Fun and games awaits us on May 1, 2013. You may remember that the government has previously announced plans to merge a range of property-related tribunals (LVT, RAC, etc) into the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (see our notes here and here). In a...
My cup runneth over
Now this is just getting silly. We have a third case this year on s.37, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Nothing for 20 years and then three in 11 months. In short, this is a power for the LVT to vary residential leases where a qualified majority of occupants...
Right to Manage – the Court of Appeal speaks
Gala Unity Ltd v Ariadne Road RTM Co Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 1372 is important for those doing long leasehold work. I'm not entirely sure it's right (or, perhaps a better way of putting it, I'm not sure it's a good decision, it may be right within the statutory...
How many times to I have to tell you?
The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has handed down two more LVT service charge appeal decisions and, hot on the heels of BCC v Keddie / Crosspite v Sachdev, it rather feels like the UT is on a bit of a mission to establish some general rules and standard...
Lease variation in the LVT
2012 seems to be a bumper year for cases under s.37, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Having had (so far as I can tell) none in the previous 20-odd years, we've now had two. The first was covered by us here and the second has just been handed down by the Upper...
Where’s Wally?
The Where's Wally? books are surprisingly good fun. You spend hours pouring over a page (or pages) trying to find Wally as he hides in ever more obscure places. Reading Day v Hosebay Ltd; Howard de Walden v Lexgorge [2012] UKSC 41 did rather feel like a...
Get back in your box
There is, it is fair to say, a degree of inconsistency in the approach and practice of LVTs up and down the country. In particular, some LVT members seem to see it as part of their role to act as quasi-audit bodies, looking into all aspects of the landlord's...
New Practice Direction for s.204 appeals
The 59th update to the CPR comes into force on October 1, 2012 and, importantly, it brings in a raft of new practice directions for appeals. For we housing lawyers, page 81 of this document sets out the position for s.204 appeals. The appellant should now...