4 King’s Bench Walk
2 Experts
52 Contributions by 4 King’s Bench Walk Experts
Q&As
A rentcharge is an amount due from a landowner to a third party lacking any proprietary stake or right in that land, and so it clearly differs from ground rent, which a leaseholder pays to the freeholder. Developers frequently used rentcharges to facilitate development and building on land without paying the landowner a premium for it, with the owner receiving an ongoing income from the land instead. The Rentcharges Act 1977 (RcA 1977) banned the creation of any new rentcharges, save for narrow exceptions, and mandated that most existing rentcharges would end by the year 2037 (RcA 1977, s 3). An estate rentcharge remains one such preserved exception...
Property
Q&As
In many developments, the freeholder or a right to manage (RTM) company established by the leaseholders accumulates a reserve fund from amounts the leaseholders pay via their service charges. This fund is intended to cushion substantial expenditure—such as repair works required under the leases—by spreading the contributions over several years...
Property
Q&As
Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954)
Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) affords security of tenure to business tenancies that have not opted out of its terms. In practical terms, a tenancy does not end on the contractual expiry date by effluxion of time; rather, it continues as a statutory tenancy. Either the landlord or the tenant may apply to the court seeking the grant of a new tenancy. By virtue of LTA 1954, s 25, the landlord may give notice to the tenant to terminate the tenancy. If the landlord wishes to oppose the grant of a new tenancy, they must identify one of the grounds set out in LTA 1954, s 30(1). If the landlord does not oppose the grant of a new lease, the landlord must set out the
Property Disputes
Q&As
Major revisions to the section 21 framework followed the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015), which, inter alia, amended the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), the Housing Act 2004 and the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 (ASTN Regs 2015), SI 2015/1646. By s 37 DA 2015, section 21 gained an enabling power for regulations to stipulate the prescribed form of a section 21 notice, and the ASTN Regs 2015, SI 2015/1646 were made accordingly. Under reg 1 of the ASTN Regs 2015, SI 2015/1646, the regime applies to an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) of a dwelling-house in England granted on or after 1 October 2015; however, it does not extend to a tenancy which arises on or after that date upon the termination of an AST that had been granted before then...
Property Disputes
Q&As
Successive legal reforms have steadily tightened the framework governing deposit protection over recent years. Following 2012, a landlord had 30 days to safeguard the deposit and supply the relevant prescribed information to the tenant. Non-compliance with these duties penalises the landlord in two distinct ways under law...
Property Disputes
Q&As
In financial remedy proceedings, it is usual for one party to earn on a self-employed footing as a sole trader in practice. Instead of using a separate legal personality, for example a company acting as the primary earning vehicle and paying salary and dividends, they trade in a chosen style or their own name and settle personal income tax on profits. Business costs are set off in the ordinary manner, and accounts are normally drawn up for this very purpose. Some sole traders simply run income and outgoings through a personal bank account, while others prefer to operate from a separate, dedicated business account...
Family
Q&As
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987)
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) grants tenants of residential flats in a building a right of first refusal to acquire the landlord’s interest when a sale is contemplated. The landlord must issue notices to the tenants, setting out the intention to dispose of that interest and allowing them time to consider a purchase at the offer price. During this period the landlord is barred from selling, and non-compliance is a criminal offence. If the tenants are not served with notice, they may compel the incoming landlord to transfer the property to them at the price paid...
Property Disputes
Q&As
Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004) sets out the obligations on landlords who take a deposit in relation to an assured shorthold tenancy. Every deposit must be handled in line with an authorised scheme (HA 2004, s 213(1)), and the scheme’s initial requirements must be met within a period of 30 days from receipt of the deposit (HA 2004, s 213(3))...
Property Disputes
Q&As
Joint property ownership in England and Wales
When property is owned jointly in England and Wales, it is held in two ways.
The legal title shows the names under which the property is registered.
Those legal owners hold it on trust for the beneficial owners (also called equitable owners).
Beneficial owners are often the same as the legal owners, but need not be.
Legal title is always held as joint tenants.
Accordingly, the registered owners hold the property ‘per muy et per tout’: each owns the entirety rather than fixed shares...
Property
Q&As
It is commonplace in financial remedy proceedings for a third party to be added to the case, either to advance a claim to a beneficial interest in a property or other asset, or to permit making of an order for sale in relation to that property. In TL v ML, Mostyn J articulated the procedural principles to be applied to such matters...
Family
Q&As
An unincorporated charity lacks its own separate legal personality and, in practical and legal terms, does not exist as a distinct body that can enter contracts or own property. Consequently, any property is held and any legal dealings are undertaken solely through, and in the names of, its trustees. Under section 117 of the Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011), ‘charity trustees’ are those who exercise overall control and manage the charity’s administration. Trustees of a charity ought to be recorded with the Charities Commission; however, this does not invariably happen, particularly in the case of smaller charities operating with a rotating board. The identity of the trustees will ordinarily be established by reference to the charity’s charitable articles...
Property Disputes
Q&As
Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 as amended
Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004, as amended, allows a tenant to issue a claim against a landlord using the modified Part 8 route for monetary redress where the landlord has not safeguarded the deposit. The award must be set at between one and three times the value of the deposit. If the tenancy is ongoing, the court may direct that the deposit is lodged with a relevant scheme. Under section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980, any such claim must be started within six years from when the cause of action arose...
Property Disputes
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