The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has been rather busy recently, handing down four housing-law related decisions in the last fortnight or so. The first three are service charge disputes, whilst the fourth is a lease variation case. In Tunstill v Primrose...
Service charge demands and prescribed information
By s.21B, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a demand for the payment of service charges must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations, setting out the various rights and options open to leaseholders. In England, that provision has been in force...
Service charges and legal costs: a very short point
The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has recently handed down two cases on insurance premiums and service charges. I'm not going to deal in any detail with either of them, as both are entirely on their own facts. However, in one case Akorita v Marina Heights...
The degree of formality
... and, no, we're not talking about meeting the in-laws; rather, we've *finally* got a High Court decision on the requirements of s.20B(2), Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This, in short, requires landlords to either demand service charges within 18 months of...
Service charges and dispensation: an update
I'm led to believe that the landlord in Daejan Investments Ltd v Benson (our post here) has been given permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. Nothing confirmed on the UKSC website yet, but my source is usually quite reliable. I'm going to go out on a...
Speak up
Southall Court (Residents) Ltd v Tiwari and another [2011] UKUT 218 (LC) will, I suspect, become a bit of a landlord favorite case over the next few years as it contains two passages that they're likely to be rather pleased about. Southall Court is a block...
Moving time
Ok, this really is a short note. The Residential Property Tribunal Service (those nice people who run LVTs, RACs and RPTs) have announced that, from July 1, 2011, they will be administered by HM Court and Tribunal Service and that, from Spring 2012, they...
Pretty Vacant
NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd v Ibrend Estates BV [2011] EWCA Civ 683 This is a commercial leasehold case, but it is the first significant case on the meaning of 'vacant possession' since about 1946 and is of general application, so here it is. NYK was the lessee...
Updating (some) leasehold valuations
The government is consulting on two technical (and, I suspect, wholly uncontroversial) changes to leasehold law. The consultation paper is available here, with responses required by September 12, 2011. Security of tenure Where a long lease comes to an end by...
Trespasser on the roof
Eaton Mansions (Westminster) Ltd v Stinger Compania De Inversion SA [2011] EWCA Civ 607 We're a bit late with this one, sorry. There was a bit of a debate about whether it was an NL case or not, but I found it interesting and it concerns residential leases,...
Ground Rent notification
I’ve just noticed that the Government amended the wording for Ground Rent demands (s.166, 2002 Act) on April 26, 2011 (see here: http://www.info4local.gov.uk/documents/publications/1905195). The change is in para. 3 of the Notes for Leaseholders. It used to...
This doesn’t end here…
Jean-Paul and another v LB Southwark [2011] UKUT 178 (LC) is, I suspect, going to cause some difficulties for LVTs (and lawyers) up and down the country. It concerns two points. When are costs "incurred" for the purposes of s.20B, Landlord and Tenant Act...