Quick couple of cases to note (no analysis), a bit of news and a job ad. Two linked appeals on out of borough/out of London Homelessness review decisions - Alibkhiet v London Borough of Brent v City of Westminster (2018) EWCA Civ 2742 Upper Tribunal (Lands...
Of HHSRS and Hiatuses
A couple of things... MHCLG have issued an "Addendum for the profile for the hazard of fire and in relation to cladding systems on high rise residential buildings" to the operating guidance to the HHSRS in relation to ACM cladding. The aim is: to provide...
Challenging service charges that aren’t yours, and views on housing in the courts
I'm not going to go into detail on Gateway Holdings (NWB) Ltd v McKenzie & Anor (LANDLORD AND TENANT - SERVICE CHARGES) [2018] UKUT 371 (LC) but it does set out a point of principle. Ms McKenzie, the current leaseholder, sought to challenge service...
Residential Purposes
Snarecroft Ltd v Quantum Securities Ltd (2018) EWHC 2071 (Ch) This is a High Court decision from February, but it has just appeared on Bailii. The issue was the construction of a lease term which provided that the tenant must "Following the obtaining of...
Service charge claims – paying trial fees and concurrent jurisdiction
Hyslop v 38/41 CHG Residents Company Ltd QBD 05/11/2018 (not on Bailii. Lawtel note of extempore judgment) CHG were the freeholder of a property with various leasehold flats. The FTT had determined that Ms Hyslop and other leaseholders owed CHG certain...
A way to deal with delinquent lessors?
A not infrequent problem for leaseholders is a landlord who takes a lackadaisical approach to enforcing leasehold covenants, or worse yet allows or waives breaches of covenants by certain leaseholders. It is a very rare lease that will allow direct...
Catching up – forfeiture & AST regulations
A couple of catch-up/postscript notes. We looked at Cheerupmate2 Ltd v Calce (2017) UKUT 377 (TCC) before - our report here - the landlord's forfeiture was held to be invalid and premature. Well, Cheerupmate2 Ltd appealed to the Court of Appeal. Cheerupmate2...
Erratum and forthcoming consultation
A couple of notes. First, an erratum. In yesterday's post on long leases as ASTs, I originally suggested that once a leaseholder had sublet the whole, assured status was lost and could not be revived. On prompting, I concluded that this was wrong. In fact,...
When a long lease is a shorthold.
[Post rewritten on 1 March 2020] While on leasehold issues, this has been floating around for a bit, but I don't think it has had the attention and awareness it deserves (perhaps particularly from conveyancers). With all the fuss/scandal around leasehold...
‘Renovations’ and Forfeiture – Don’t do this!
The Times reports on a story of forfeiture of a residential lease (paywall or limited free access). I'm noting this not because of any particular legal complications, but because it is one of the relatively rare examples where forfeiture actually happened....
When service charges become indisputable
Marlborough Park Services Ltd v Micha Leitner (2018) UKUT 230 (LC) Tenants/Leaseholders can seek a determination of the payability and reasonableness of service charges under s.27A Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It has been something of a question about how...
Shaken but not successful – the problems of nuisance
Dr Amanda Lindsay v Berkley Homes (Capital) PLC (2018) QBD (TCC) 13/07/2018 (Extempore judgment reported on Lawtel) Dr Lindsay owned a leasehold flat. She had brought a claim (in person) arising out of works to demolish a concrete basement to the building...