Legal News

In this issue: Renters’ Reform Act 2025 updates Key developments and horizon scanning Residential tenancies Repairing obligations and dilapidations Disputes and remedies Trespass and adverse possession Enfranchisement and right to manage Rent and rates Contractual issues Property disputes in Scotland Additional Property Disputes updates Lex Talk® Property Disputes: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& As Renters’ Reform Act 2025 updates Assured Tenancies ( Private Rented Sector) ( Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) ( England) Regulations 2026 — SI 2026/324: This instrument prescribes the contents of the written statement of terms and other particulars to be provided for assured tenancies (excluding social housing assured tenancies) under section 16D of the Housing Act 1988, by setting out in the Schedule the mandatory terms and information. For existing tenancies within Schedule 6 to the RRA 2025, the required material is the current edition of ‘ The Renters’ Rights Act...

In this issue: Key DR developments Cost and funding Cross-border disputes Pre-action and limitation Litigation Evidence and disclosure Settlement Scottish Dispute Resolution New Content Dates for your diary Useful information Daily and weekly news alerts Key DR developments Reports and speeches CTJ publishes the Commercial Court’s annual report for 2024–2025: The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary ( CTJ) has released the Commercial Court’s 2024–2025 annual report, spanning the Commercial Court, Admiralty Court and the London Circuit Commercial Courts. The document covers the work undertaken across those three courts in 2024–2025. It records that intake of new claims remained broadly steady, with 1,140 claims lodged, set against 1,174 the year before. By contrast, activity in the Commercial Court eased a little: hearings listed stood at 1,091 and effective hearings at 773, compared with 1,251 and 884...

Financial services developments FCA updates perimeter report and publishes work programme and fees proposals for 2026/27 The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) has issued its annual work programme for 2026/27, refreshed its perimeter report, and opened consultation paper CP26/11, which sets out its proposals on the rates for regulated fees and levies for 2026/27. Responses to the consultation are requested by 30 April 2026. The Annual Work Programme sets out initiatives intended to streamline processes, remove friction where appropriate, and help firms operate more efficiently, while upholding high standards across the financial sector. It features, among other things: embedding AI in regulatory workflows to detect harm more effectively and accelerate regulatory decision-making processes using generative AI to review documents received from firms, supporting quicker, more timely decisions......

EU copyright rules may not require a full overhaul to address challenges posed by AI A European Commission official indicated that a sweeping rewrite might be unnecessary, hinting that stronger enforcement and better implementation could suffice. “ It is premature to say whether a fresh legal instrument is required,” said Emmanuelle du Chalard, who leads the EU executive’s copyright unit, at an event in Brussels. She added: “ One can envisage regulatory steps that would not fundamentally replace the current framework.” “ We do not need to invent new rights or fresh exceptions; instead we can devise updated rules to enhance how existing rights are exercised and enforced.” The Commission is assessing how well the 2019 Copyright Directive functions, especially given emerging tensions between rights holders and AI firms. An external study is in progress, with publication also anticipated before the end of the year. The...

Financial services developments FCA sets out 2026 regulatory priorities for payments firms The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) has published a statement of its Regulatory Priorities for the payments sector, addressed to firms authorised or registered under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. The paper outlines expectations and work undertaken across four core themes: preparing for the future to support effective competition, innovation and growth; ensuring firms implement the Consumer Duty effectively; protecting financial system integrity; and keeping customers’ money safe. Under innovation and preparing for the future, the FCA states it intends to take the following actions: support industry in establishing a Future Entity for open banking support the Treasury in introducing legislation to grant the FCA powers to set new rules for the long-term regulatory framework work with the Treasury to modernise and future‑proof the regulation of payment services and...

The EU- Mercosur free-trade pact's commercial provisions and duty reductions will take effect on 1 May 2026, the Commission announced on 23 March 2026. The agreement, endorsed by both blocs on 17 January 2026 in Paraguay (following 26 years of negotiations), will establish a combined market exceeding 700 million people, gradually opening trade in goods to cover as much as 90% of total trade between the two blocs......

Petroleum Exploration ( PVT) Ltd v Frontier Holdings Ltd and another company [2026] EWHC 56 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment strengthens the Fiona Trust presumption in the specific setting of settlement agreements concluded to resolve earlier contractual disputes. In particular, where parties insert a fresh, broadly worded arbitration clause into a settlement agreement, the working assumption is that it is intended to operate as a single ‘one‑stop’ route for resolving all future disputes arising under the settlement, in the absence of unequivocally clear carve‑outs (see Fiona Trust Holding Corp v Privalov [2007] UKHL 40). When drafting or interpreting such arbitration clauses, parties and their legal representatives should: assume that the arbitration clause in the settlement agreement is the operative dispute resolution provision for any dispute between the parties concerning the implementation of, or alleged breach of, the...

Zaha Hadid Ltd v Zaha Hadid Foundation [2026] EWCA Civ 192 What are the practical implications of the case? The ruling clarifies the line between perpetual agreements and those of indefinite duration, and the situations in which a power to terminate on reasonable notice may exist, both in principle and in day-to-day commercial practice overall too. Having surveyed the common law authorities in this field, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that perpetual and indefinite contracts can carry different consequences. At the heart of the outcome is a focus on construing the agreement and ascertaining the parties’ common intention. It underlines, once again, the need for intentions to be settled from the outset and, preferably, for contracts to contain express provisions dealing with termination. The judgment also offers notable, albeit obiter, observations on the doctrine of restraint of trade in commercial...

The limits of Article 8 ( IA & others v SSHD) IA and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1516 What are the practical implications of this case? The case confirms that adult brothers and sisters will only rarely be able to show family life, and then only where there are extra features of dependency going beyond ordinary emotional bonds. This is a fact-sensitive inquiry. Practitioners should heed the court’s conclusion that dependency signifies a substantial relationship and exceeds the mere presence of support, even where that support is described as real, committed or effective. Whether there is real, committed and effective support may inform the analysis of dependency, but it does not amount to the legal test. The bar to be cleared is a demanding one. The judgment contains a careful survey of the leading...

Mohammed v Ali and another [2026] EWHC 401 ( KB) What are the practical implications of the case? This judgment distils key rules for addressing contested assertions about a person’s ability to conduct litigation, with particular relevance to Traumatic Brain Injury ( TBI) claims. It consolidates earlier authorities which, as the judge at first instance observed, were ‘ad hoc’, with ‘significant differences’. The court delivers structured guidance for situations where one side contends there is a want of litigation capacity, yet that contention is challenged by another party, raised by the court itself, or undermined by conflicts within that party’s own evidence. Ought the court appoint a litigation friend on a precautionary footing, or instead fix a preliminary hearing to determine capacity as a discrete issue? The clear and succinct response is that, unless the opponent can show concrete prejudice, the question of...

Practice Note Refer to misfeasance actions against administrators pursuant to paragraph 75...

General Court grants damages over Commission’s refusal to pay interest after Airfreight annulment The General Court has delivered its rulings in Cases T-310/21, Air Canada v Commission, and T-313/21, SAS Cargo Group and Others v Commission. These were actions seeking damages, or alternatively annulment, arising from the Commission’s refusal to pay interest after its 2010 Airfreight cartel decision was quashed by the General Court in 2015. The Court upheld the claims for damages in part. Background On 9 November 2010, the Commission adopted the Airfreight decision, finding a single, continuous infringement of Article 101 TFEU and imposing fines on several airlines. On 16 December 2015, the General Court annulled that decision in a series of judgments (including Case T-39/11) because of discrepancies between the reasoning and the operative part. Following those annulments, the applicants— Air Canada and SAS Cargo Group and Others—were reimbursed in 2016 for the fines they had...

See the Q& A: What is the legal stance where personal representatives have neglected to inform a beneficiary that the grant has been issued, and a two‑month delay has thereby prejudiced the beneficiary by leaving them with less time to issue their claim under the Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, within the six‑month time limit for bringing proceedings? Is there any case law in which the PRs are criticised for such a delay in notifying beneficiaries? This query specifically concerns notification delays by PRs. The time limit in the 1975 Act The Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 ( I( PFD) A 1975) provides that certain categories of persons, as listed in section 1, may bring proceedings on the ground that the disposition of the deceased’s estate effected by their Will, the law of intestacy, or both in...

Competition policy The Civil Aviation Authority has published its formal reply to the Department for Business and Trade’s consultation on ‘refining our competition regime’. In January 2026, the Civil Aviation Authority ( CAA) responded to a consultation issued by the Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) on proposals to refine the competition regime. The CAA broadly backs the suggested reforms to the UK competition regime, including the introduction of a single-phase market review tool built on an ‘adverse effects on consumers’ test, regarding this as a step towards a more streamlined and effective framework......

Soprim Construction SARL v The Republic of Djibouti [2026] EWHC 418 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? Although DPW’s bid did not succeed, the ruling reinforces that, when faced with security applications in these settings, the court will decide only after a fact-specific, contextual assessment of the individual case. As Waksman J emphasised, there is no blanket rule that a party added to proceedings can never be a ‘ Defendant’. Equally, there is no automatic position that such a party must always be treated as one. The court will take into account a range of considerations, which are not exhaustive, including the following: the character and purpose of the ‘claim’ pursued by the respondent to the security application who or what the claim is directed at the identity and nature of parties in the case other than the...

DA and RA v United Kingdom, Application no 46692/19 Background This case concerned the updated benefit cap brought in by the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, which set a total yearly limit on welfare entitlements for most households at £23,000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere (paras [6], [27] of the judgment). Lone parents could avoid the cap by working at least 16 hours each week (paras [6], [28]). The first applicant, a lone mother, fell within the cap from 2017 to 2019 while caring for her child, the second applicant, who was under two years old. During that time she did not qualify for free childcare, unlike parents of older children, and she contended this posed a significant obstacle to working the necessary hours to lift the cap (paras [7]–[8]). The applicants pursued judicial review, arguing that applying the cap to lone parents of...

BHP Group ( UK) Ltd and another v Município de Mariana and others [2026] EWCA Civ 294 What are the practical implications of the case? This decision reiterates that criminal contempt is confined to what is reasonably required to safeguard the public interest in the proper administration of justice. In judging that requirement, policy considerations normally demand a balancing of potentially competing interests, as circumstances of this kind often present. One category of behaviour captured by the contempt jurisdiction is taking measures designed to obstruct or deter a party or individual from advancing their claim. Yet actions intended to impede or stop a claimant from bringing proceedings will not invariably constitute criminal contempt. The boundary is not mapped by a simple divide between conduct that is, in itself, lawful or unlawful. Instead, the line is drawn by asking whether the conduct is improper, even where it would...

The Parties listed at Schedule 1 to the N244 v Kroll Trustee Services [2026] EWHC 216 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling offers clear direction on how the court may deploy its discretion to order pre-action disclosure in disputed debt restructurings. Creditors can take increased comfort about securing such relief, and counterparties should think more carefully about providing restructuring transaction documents voluntarily at the pre-action stage in comparable situations. Information asymmetries in restructuring disputes The court treated the imbalance of information between the applicants and Kroll/the ad hoc group (the latter expected to be added as defendants in due course) as, in itself, a factor weighing in favour of disclosure. It concluded that ordering pre-action disclosure would cause minimal disruption to Kroll while materially assisting the applicants in shaping their case. Limited classes of documents for which disclosure is...

Consult the Practice Note: Duty to co‑operate with office‑holder under section 235 of the Insolvency Act 1986—key cases. For summaries on evidence and gathering, see: Evidence and evidence gathering—overview and Evidence gathering and obtaining property—overview......

UT overturns case management directions relating to witness evidence ( L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC) L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKUT 130 ( TCC). The substantive appeal concerns whether approximately 1,400 locum pharmacists engaged by the taxpayer were self-employed or employees for PAYE and NICs. The taxpayer maintains the locums were self-employed, while HMRC contends they were employees. The taxpayer declined to permit HMRC access to the locums as witnesses and indicated it would seek judicial review of any approach by HMRC. In case management, the FTT directed the identification of ten further locums as witnesses of fact to give evidence in the appeal, noting the taxpayer had produced only two locum witness statements. The directions further contemplated that, if the taxpayer did not call those witnesses voluntarily, the FTT itself could issue witness...