Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Beneficial interests and LRA 2002 restrictions: FTT lacks jurisdiction to quantify shares; substantial improvement contributions suffice; tribunals should not give non-binding views — Hallman v Harkins [2019] UKUT 245 (LC)

Published on: 14 August 2019

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

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Article summary

Hallman v Harkins [2019] UKUT 245 (LC) What are the practical implications of this case?

When the application for permission to appeal was made, no one had put in issue whether the FTT possessed authority to fix the scope of the relevant beneficial share. The UT, having granted permission, observed that it would have to settle a long-standing doubt about whether the FTT enjoyed any such jurisdiction at all. By deciding that the FTT lacked jurisdiction to determine the extent of a beneficial interest, the UT also emphasised that courts and tribunals should not deliver advisory or non-binding views, and that parties seeking an informed steer ought instead to consider the recognised forms of alternative dispute resolution available to them. Beyond the jurisdictional point, the decision is valuable for its recital of the considerations that inform whether a beneficial interest arises and, if so, how far that interest stretches. In holding that the FTT had erred in fixing the beneficial interest at 35%, the UT noted that what constitutes a substantial contribution, where money or effort has been put into improving a property, must be evaluated in context and relative to the scale, value, and timing of the works undertaken to...

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