Onerous property/contract meaning

Trustees Verify who the present charity trustees are. Examine historic appointment and retirement deeds to validate earlier changes to the board. Consider whether any current trustees have obvious conflicts of interest. Trust instrument Review the trust instrument and identify the powers it grants. Record any express limits on exercising those powers. Note whether any of the charity’s land is functional, designated, or held in specie. Land and leases Identify the charity’s property holdings and carry out the following checks: Confirm that title to all land is current, checking whether required deeds or transfers were executed after trustee changes, or reliance is placed on statutory vesting; verify proper execution of all documents. Confirm that appropriate restrictions have been entered on the title register. Confirm, so far as possible, that the land was duly authorised on acquisition, and review every lease where the charity is landlord or tenant; note any onerous obligations, and check whether required notices were served after...

Abbott Diabetes Care Inc (a corporation registered under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States) v Sinocare Inc (a corporation registered under the laws of the People’s Republic of China) and other companies [2025] EWHC 206 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? There are two principal practical consequences flowing from this decision. First, obtaining and preserving a valid registration for three-dimensional trade marks continues to be onerous, because the form of a product seldom serves, for the average consumer of the relevant goods, as a sign of commercial origin. Secondly, the evidence here brought into focus a crucial issue when attempting to show use of a mark in trade—namely, whether the sign has appeared by itself, or alongside other, usually more conspicuous, marks that indicate the provenance of the goods...

This Practice Note explains the legal framework governing rent and rent review clauses in Scottish commercial leases. For disputed elements of rent and rent review, see Practice Notes: Rent arrears in commercial leases—recovering—Scotland and Commercial property rent review disputes—Scotland. Rent At common law, one essential requirement for a lease is the obligation to pay rent, even if only a token sum. Rent is typically due quarterly in advance on the Scottish quarter days; however, it is also frequent for leases where the landlord is an English property company or pension fund to specify payment on the English quarter days (see below) to maintain uniformity across the landlord's portfolio. After the 2008 recession, retail tenants increasingly sought to pay rent monthly in advance, and many landlords have been willing to consent to this. Such arrangements are generally personal to the original tenant and are recorded by a back letter; see Practice Note: Back letters to commercial leases in Scotland. The new Scottish quarter days are: Candlemas,...

Introduction This Practice Note outlines and explains, in particular, escheat, bona vacantia (ownerless property) and the power of the Crown, or a Royal Duchy, to disclaim bona vacantia on the dissolution of a company where the relevant asset is a freehold estate in land. It further addresses the impact and consequences of a disclaimer of onerous freehold land by a liquidator, a trustee in bankruptcy, or the Official Receiver. Escheat Paramount lordship of the Crown The doctrine of escheat has its roots in the long-standing feudal arrangements for holding land. Within that framework, all land across England, Wales and Northern Ireland is, in the last resort, held by the Crown: this is the principle of paramount lordship. Nevertheless, others may hold a legal estate in land; the more modern expression of this appears in section 1 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925), which recognises freehold (and leasehold) estates. A person entitled to one of these estates enjoys the incidents of ‘ownership’ as that...

The nature of disclaimer Disclaimer is a statutory mechanism arising under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) together with the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (IR 2016), SI 2016/1024, which regulate it as follows: in liquidation, the relevant provisions are set out in IA 1986, ss 178–182 and in IR 2016, SI 2016/1024, rr 19.1–19.11 in bankruptcy, the relevant provisions are set out in IA 1986, ss 315–321 and in IR 2016, SI 2016/1024, rr 19.1–19.11 What can be disclaimed? Both liquidators and trustees in bankruptcy (trustees) may, by giving the prescribed notice, disclaim any onerous property, and may exercise that power notwithstanding that they have already taken possession of it, endeavoured to sell it, or otherwise exercised rights or incidents of ownership in relation to it. Onerous property is defined as including: any contract that is unprofitable any other property which is unsaleable or not readily saleable, or is such that it may give...

This Q&A considers the requirements in order to serve a valid section 21 notice pursuant to the Housing Act 1988 in circumstances where a six-month fixed term tenancy commenced in 2013 and, thereafter, became a statutory periodic tenancy. The obligations to be complied with when giving a section 21 notice to a tenant became markedly more onerous in practice following the coming into force of the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015) together with the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/1646. Notably, DA 2015 stipulates that, for any tenancy starting on or after 1 October 2015 (renewals included), the landlord must supply the tenant with an energy performance certificate and a gas safety certificate before the tenancy begins as a prerequisite. On the face of it, the landlord here arguably appears able to issue a valid section 21 notice, given that the fixed term ended before 2015 and therefore preceded the 2015 requirements...

The answer on the contractual provisions in the tenancy agreement. On the face of it, the tenant must secure consent before commencing any works. Where that applies, the tenant cannot compel the landlord to grant consent after the fact for alterations, save where the landlord chooses to agree. Should the landlord decide to issue consent retrospectively for any alterations, the landlord will set out the conditions and requirements on which such consent is given. These may include timing, scope, reinstatement, and any associated costs...

A liquidator of a company has broad power under section 178 of the Insolvency Act 1986 to disclaim any ‘onerous property’ Under section 178 of the Insolvency Act 1986, a company’s liquidator possesses extensive authority to renounce any ‘onerous property’...