A couple of county court cases on Airbnb/short let use by leaseholders. One was reported in the newspapers, the other has not been reported anywhere before. Both show the potentially serious consequences of leaseholders letting out on short lets, where lease...
RTB and Airbnb in Southwark
Yes, the backlog of case reports is growing, but I've only time for a quick note on an interesting development in Southwark. According to this report, Southwark council have decided that their Right To Buy leases contain covenants that would prevent short...
Medley
Here are various bits and pieces, while we await big cases such as the Supreme Court decision in Poshteh v RB Kensington & Chelsea. (You can watch the hearing here.) We don't usually promote events on Nearly Legal, but I am happy to make an exception for...
Who knows where? – service and the Land Registry
Service of notices, claims etc on 'last known address' can be a bit of a thorny issue. Not least the question of the extent of reasonable inquiries to find the missing person before the 'last known address' can be relied on for service. Thus the intriguing...
Service charges, contracts, social housing and subsidies
Thomas Homes Ltd v Colin MacGregor [2016] UKUT 495 (LC) An interesting question. To what extent, if at all, can leaseholders' service charges be set at a level to 'subsidise' a shortfall as against actual maintenance costs in service charges recoverable from...
Reasonable costs of Improvements
The London Borough of Hounslow v Waaler [2017] EWCA Civ 45 We saw the Upper Tribunal take a new approach to determining whether the costs of improvement works, passed on through the service charge, were reasonably incurred. The UT held that particular...
Perception of doors*
Southwark Council v Various Lessees of the St Saviours Estate [2017] UKUT 10 (LC) (Full disclosure - my firm acted for the Lessees). The issue in this Upper Tribunal case was whether LB Southwark was entitled charge the leaseholders for works to replace...
Leases, tribunals and contractual costs
87 St George’s Square Management Ltd v Whiteside [2016] UKUT 438 (LC) The vexed issues of costs in service charge disputes rumble on. Willow Court Management Company (1985) Ltd v Alexander [2016] UKUT 0290 (LC) (our note) set out guidance for how and when...
AirbnBreach – developments…
Things are hotting up on the Airbnb front. We've noted breach of lease issues here and here. Then there has been the big issue of massive and widespread breaches of the Greater London 'no short letting of whole for more than 90 days per calendar year without...
In the Tribunals…
Quick notes on a couple of Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) cases. Cardiff Community Housing Association Ltd v Kahar [2016] UKUT 279 (LC) Ms K had a weekly tenancy of a flat (initially her daughter's flat but assigned to her in 2014 by mutual exchange). The...
Short term lets and private residences
Nemcova v Fairfield Rents Ltd [2016] UKUT 303 (LC) We've seen a First Tier Tribunal case on breach of lease by use of the property for short term lets through Airbnb. Here the Upper Tribunal weighs in on the significance of lease covenants for short term...
How the other half live
Eclipse Film Partners v HMRC [2016] UKSC 24 has almost nothing to do with housing law. It was an appeal from the First Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), via the UT (TCC) and the CA. It wasn't even about the substantive issues in the case, rather, it was about who...