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This Practice Note outlines the law concerning criminal recklessness. The subjective test for recklessness Certain statutory and common law offences allow the prosecution to prove mens rea through ‘recklessness’. Put simply, recklessness is where the accused takes an unjustified risk that results in unlawful harm or damage. The House of Lords in R v G reaffirmed the subjective approach to recklessness. Before R v G, two distinct tests were used, depending on the offence charged: Subjective recklessness from R v Cunningham: the prosecution had to establish that the accused personally foresaw the risk. Objective recklessness from R v Caldwell: the prosecution only needed to show that the risk would have been obvious to a reasonable person, without proving the accused themselves foresaw it. In R v G, the House of Lords concluded that the objective test could operate unfairly where a defendant did not foresee the
This Practice Note examines the remedy of rescission, explaining when and in what manner a contract can be unwound (at common law, in equity and under statute) and thereby terminated and brought to an end. It covers the consequences and effects of rescission, the principal grounds for setting aside an agreement (misrepresentation, mistake, undue influence, duress, non‑disclosure, fiduciary misdealing and bribery) and the main obstacles to claiming rescission—affirmation, the intervention of third‑party rights and the impossibility of restitution. For further guidance on rescission in the context of misrepresentation, see Practice Note: Misrepresentation—rescission as a remedy. There are many ways in which a contract may reach its end; see: Terminating contracts—how and when a contract ends—overview for a brief and accessible summary, with links to the related further practical guidance, including Practice Note: Termination and expiry of contracts. For a table
What is a res judicata? A res judicata is a determination by a court or tribunal with jurisdiction over the cause of action and the parties, which finally disposes of the issues decided so they cannot be litigated again by those bound, save on appeal. Final judgments entered by default or by consent fall within this concept, whereas rulings on purely procedural points and any decision lacking finality do not. The doctrine’s aim is to bring litigation to an end and shield parties from being harassed by the same dispute twice. in personam—binds the parties and their privies in rem—binds all persons, privy or otherwise (ie a judgment binding the whole world) A party may rely on res judicata: as an estoppel to defeat an opponent’s claim or defence; and/or as the basis of their own claim or
The offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent can be tried solely in the Crown Court on indictment. Elements of the offence Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (OATPA 1861), the prosecution must establish that the defendant unlawfully and maliciously: wounded with the intention of causing GBH, or caused GBH with that intention, or wounded intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person, or caused GBH intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person ‘Unlawfully’ and ‘maliciously’ Unlawfully The wounding or causing of GBH must be unlawful. Such conduct may be lawful if used: in self-defence in defence of another in defence of property for the prevention of crime where the victim gave express or implied consent For further information on these defences, see below:
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Background One of the core tenets of an effective insolvency regime is that an insolvency practitioner (described in this Practice Note as an ‘ IP’) may examine the conduct of the insolvent party (described in this Practice Note as the ‘ Debtor’) in the period preceding insolvency, to determine whether earlier transactions have improperly disadvantaged the valid claims of creditors by reason of antecedent dealings. For instance, a Debtor facing financial distress might have disposed of particular assets at undervalue to generate quick cash in the short term. Yet, by doing so (and effectively placing those assets beyond creditors’ reach) the Debtor may have weakened creditors’ prospects of recovery and nullified any security they held over those assets (for example, a floating charge), rendering it redundant. Although an IP will, for the most part, be focussed on a snapshot of the Debtor’s assets and...
What is a DRO? Debt Relief Orders are a newer, streamlined route to clear the slate for people who cannot afford to go bankrupt. A DRO is granted in relation to qualifying debts. A qualifying debt is one that is: for a liquidated amount payable now or at a future date unsecured not an excluded debt Under the Insolvency ( England and Wales) Rules 2016 ( IR 2016), SI 2016/1024, r 9.2, an excluded debt means: any fine for an offence, or an obligation arising from an order in family proceedings, or a maintenance assessment or maintenance calculation under the Child Support Act 1991 any obligation under a criminal confiscation order student loans damages relating to the death of, or personal injury to, any person a crisis loan or budgeting loan made under the Social Security...
This Practice Note sets out: what a concurrent lease is when it is typically used who may enforce (and benefit from) covenants in the existing lease(s) principal distinctions between a concurrent lease and a headlease from which underleases are derived It also considers essential provisions to include when preparing a concurrent lease, and how a concurrent lease interacts with: tenants’ rights of first refusal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 ( LTA 1987) operators’ rights under the Electronic Communications Code In this Practice Note, the following definitions are used: L: the landlord under the original lease T1: the tenant (or tenants) under the original lease(s) CT: the tenant under the concurrent lease What is a concurrent lease? ......
For advice on the standard covenants restricting assignment and underletting, and on when withholding consent is reasonable in practice, refer to Practice Note: Landlord’s consent to assign or underlet. Where there is a breach, a landlord typically has the following remedies available. Forfeiture Where consent is required, any assignment or underletting carried out without it constitutes a breach that, under typical lease provisions, entitles the landlord to forfeit the lease. The tenant can apply for relief from forfeiture through the standard and recognised route. Absent such an application, forfeiture terminates the lease and, in such circumstances, extinguishes any sublease derived from it. For further and fuller detail on forfeiture, see Practice Note: Forfeiture of a lease. Injunction In a declining or soft market, a landlord may prefer not to forfeit, particularly where they consider the tenant unlikely to seek relief......
There are several different ways an easement may terminate, and this Practice Note concentrates mainly on unity of seisin, also referred to as unity of ownership, for the purposes of this discussion. For other circumstances in which an easement might be extinguished, consider: abandonment—please see Practice Note: Easements lost by abandonment express agreement—for example, please see Precedent: Deed of release of easement statute—for example, please see Practice Note: Section 203 powers—interference with rights for development purposes the carrying out of works required by a statutory order that further render the easement incapable of exercise, or the lawful removal of the structure over which the easement is enjoyed See further guidance: General: Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents [1190]. Unity of seisin Unity of ownership Unity of seisin (in modern terms, unity of ownership) is where the ownership of the freehold interest in both the...
This Practice Note outlines the principal steps a landlord must take to terminate a residential lease by forfeiture, on the basis that no security of tenure applies (for example, assured tenancy status does not). It addresses the pre-conditions to ending the lease, whether the tenant’s default is non-payment of rent, service or administration charges, or some other breach of covenant. The requirements are explained in detail in Practice Note: Statutory limitations on the landlord’s right to forfeit a long residential lease. This Practice Note is not a comprehensive guide to the recoverability of service or administration charges; for further guidance, see: Residential service charge disputes—overview. For a landlord’s guide to forfeiture in general, see Practice Note: How to forfeit a lease. Do preliminary checks Confirm that forfeiture is the most suitable remedy for the landlord. Verify the lease contains a forfeiture clause and that the right to...
Declaratory judgment A declaratory judgment states the rights, responsibilities or obligations of parties in a dispute. It is legally binding but does not compel any party to act. A court may grant it on its own or alongside other remedies, such as an injunction, and it can be made on an application for judicial review. A key benefit is the considerable saving of costs by resolving a specific issue as a preliminary matter, avoiding further argument or helping to achieve a settlement. Declaratory relief may be sought within, or in place of, applications for the judicial review of decisions by tribunals or public bodies, including local planning authorities ( LPAs). It can provide a straightforward, cost-effective and flexible means to interpret legislation and promote good administration, without needing to overturn earlier determinations where that would be impracticable or...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: This Practice Note sets out the law as it currently stands, though elements could be affected by the Digital Omnibus proposals released on 19 November 2025 under the European Commission’s ‘simplification’ agenda. For details, see Practice Note: EU Digital Omnibus—tracker. It introduces the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( EU GDPR), and the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR). The UK data protection law collection and the EU data protection law collection compile further core guidance on these regimes and are recommended starting points for research. In brief, data protection law across the EEA (the EU together with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) and the UK aims to ensure that information about living individuals (‘personal data’) is treated fairly and responsibly. To that end, both EEA and UK data protection laws impose...
The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 ( LRA 1967) and the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 ( LRHUDA 1993) confer on long leasehold tenants, respectively, individual and collective rights to acquire the freehold of their house or a block of flats. Alongside introducing the collective enfranchisement right, LRHUDA 1993 also expanded the range of houses eligible for individual enfranchisement. If the relevant house or block were the landlord’s sole asset, this would cause little difficulty. However, significant estate management concerns may emerge if, under either statute, a landlord is required to make involuntary and piecemeal disposals across its portfolio. Both the LRA 1967 and LRHUDA 1993 allow a landlord to implement a management scheme covering a neighbourhood. These schemes, which endure following enfranchisement, enable the landlord to retain management powers and enforce rights over any property transferred under either Act, to...
This Practice Note outlines what environmental, social and governance ( ESG) issues are and how they may influence property disputes. What is ESG? Environmental, social and governance ( ESG) is a collective label for the environmental, social and governance dimensions of an organisation’s activities, namely: Environmental factors: concerning the effects on, and from, the natural environment, including carbon footprint, energy efficiency and pollution arising from operations Social factors: examining human rights risks across the organisation’s supply chain, including modern slavery Governance factors: addressing how an organisation is governed, including executive pay and board diversity For further details on the elements of ESG, see the diagram below. ESG reporting obligations can be mandatory or voluntary depending on the jurisdiction in which the organisation operates, the markets it serves and its investor arrangements. In the UK, the maturity and breadth of ESG laws are...
This Practice Note examines the ‘right to rent’ regime applying to residential premises in England. It summarises the ‘right to rent’ scheme and signposts the code of practice on right to rent (which explains how landlords and agents can comply with the regulations) and the landlords’ code of practice (relating to avoiding discrimination), alongside other Government guidance. The focus is on residential premises within England only. It also directs readers to Government guidance relevant to the scheme in this area, as appropriate. Background—the 'right to rent' scheme Brought in by the Immigration Act 2014 ( IA 2014), the ‘right to rent’ framework is designed to prevent persons who are not lawfully present in the UK from securing or remaining in private accommodation in the UK. Under the scheme, a private landlord who permits an adult, disqualified from entering into a residential tenancy agreement because of their...
Archived This Practice Note is archived and is no longer being maintained. Forthcoming change The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance on how the Act affects residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters’ Rights Act 2025—key provisions. Stop press The Housing and Planning Act 2016 received Royal Assent on 12 May 2016. However, the provisions in Part 3 concerning the recovery of possession of abandoned premises have not yet been brought into force. Accordingly, this Practice Note is provided for information only until those measures commence. This Practice Note concerns the recovery of abandoned residential premises let under an assured shorthold tenancy ( AST) by private landlords in England only. Background Part 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 ( HPA 2016) is intended to enable private landlords to regain possession of abandoned residential property with greater ease, with the aim of making more...
This ‘how to’ guide considers how to serve a leaseholder deed of certificate ( LDC) under the Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA 2022) The service charge protections in Schedule 8 apply solely to ‘qualifying leases’ under BSA 2022, section 119(2) (subject to one exception). An LDC verifies whether the lease meets section 119(2)(d). This ‘how to’ guide outlines the LDC’s format and service, the supporting evidence required, and any relevant deadlines. Under section 119(2) of the BSA 2022, a lease is ‘qualifying’ only if conditions (a) to (d) are all satisfied. Conditions (a) to (c) are relatively clear: broadly, it must be a long lease (over 21 years) of a dwelling, the tenant must be liable for a service charge, and the lease must have been granted before 14 February 2022 — see Practice Note: Building Safety Act...
This Practice Note explores the risks that can sometimes occur where individuals are permitted to enter, or to remain, in occupation of residential premises in England without a formal tenancy. It also considers scenarios involving lodgers, holiday lets, family or friendly arrangements, and cohabiting partners. Lodgers A homeowner might accept a lodger and later on seek to have them leave. The route to achieving this turns on whether the lodger holds a lease or merely a licence. Typically, in practice, where the lodger uses the household spaces and a personal bedroom, with the landlord supplying bedding and cleaning, the arrangement amounts to a licence. This is because the lodger lacks exclusive possession of any area. Conversely, if no services are furnished for the room and the lodger enjoys exclusive possession, a tenancy of that room will be created. The absence of a written...
Insolvency of private not-for-profit registered providers of social housing The social housing landscape in England is often labelled a ‘no default’ market, reflecting that no English private not-for-profit registered provider of social housing ( NFPRP) of meaningful scale has ever been wound up through insolvency. When providers have encountered financial stress, the regulator of social housing (under its various historic incarnations) (the Regulator) has, thus far, leveraged regulatory intervention and sector-wide influence, including with the principal funder, to broker rescues by ‘white knights’—typically larger NFPRPs operating in the same locality as the faltering body or organisations with the requisite specialist know-how. This approach has to date avoided insolvent winding-up for significant NFPRPs, with takeovers arranged to steady distressed entities by suitable counterparts. The current housing administration framework was created by Part 4, Chapter 5 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 ( HPA 2016) and...
This Practice Note summarises aspects of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 ( HPA 2016), which grants local housing authorities ( LHAs) powers to address rogue landlords and property agents, including making banning orders and creating a register of rogue landlords and property agents. These provisions apply solely in England. Part 2 of HPA 2016 introduces measures to improve housing management, strengthening LHAs’ ability to detect and tackle rogue landlords and property agents in the private rented sector. They allow LHAs to seek a banning order that prohibits a landlord or property agent from letting or managing properties for a minimum of 12 months, and establish a database of rogue landlords and property agents. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 ( RRA 2025) likewise brings in extensive regulation of private sector landlords. For guidance on those provisions, see the following Practice Notes, which provide...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived, not maintained, and provided solely for background information. Certain links may no longer point to the provisions as they stood on the date this guidance was issued. For details of earlier and/or later amendments to the CPR, see: CPR updates—overview and Procedure Rule Committee minutes—overview. Copies of both update documents, along with additional materials concerning the bill of costs, are available in the recommended documents section. When do the changes come into force? The two Making documents took effect on the following dates: 92nd update: 21 November 2017 93rd update: 22 November 2017 92nd update— Practice Direction 4 (forms) References to the ‘ Mercantile Court’ are replaced with ‘ Circuit Commercial Court’. Under Writs and Warrants, Form PF 93: Application for permission to issue a writ of possession (rule 83.13) is...
This Practice Note examines the enforcement of standard security over heritable property in Scotland. Legal framework The regime governing enforcement of standard securities sits in, and is derived from, Part II of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform ( Scotland) Act 1970 ( CFR( S) A 1970). The statutory framework originally set out in the CFR( S) A 1970 has been significantly modified for securities over properties used for residential purposes, principally by the following: Mortgage Rights ( Scotland) Act 2001, and Home Owner and Debtor Protection ( Scotland) Act 2010 When considering enforcement of any standard security, the reference point is the security instrument itself and, in particular, the operation and application of the ‘ Standard Conditions’ contained in CFR( S) A 1970, Sch 3. From an enforcement standpoint, normally the key Standard Conditions to note in practice are: Standard Condition 9—which defines the...
This Practice Note focuses on enforcement in Scotland. For guidance on: the position in England and Wales, see Introduction to enforcement—overview, which not only provides a summary of the topic but also links to more detailed guidance on various aspects of domestic enforcement in England and Wales cross-border enforcement, see Practice Note: Cross-border enforcement—a guide for dispute resolution practitioners, which likewise offers an overview and directs you to further detailed guidance on the different elements of cross-border enforcement Court proceedings—value and jurisdiction Commercial disputes worth more than £100,000 can be raised in either the Court of Session or the sheriff court (section 39 of the Courts Reform ( Scotland) Act 2014 ( CR( S) A 2014)). Subject to limited exceptions, matters valued at up to £100,000 are restricted to the sheriff court ( CR( S) A 2014, s 39). For guidance on the civil court structure in...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For commentary on how the Act will affect residential lettings in England, refer to Practice Note: Renters' Rights Act 2025—key provisions. Private residential tenancies The Private Housing ( Tenancies) ( Scotland) Act 2016 ( PH( T)( S) A 2016) introduced a private sector residential tenancy known as the ‘private residential tenancy’ ( PRT), see Practice Note: Private residential tenancies— Scotland. PRTs commenced on 1 December 2017, displacing the former assured and short assured tenancy framework (see ‘ Tenancies created before December 2017’ below). From 1 December 2017, new assured or short assured tenancies can no longer be created. Assured and short assured tenancies that existed before 1 December 2017 continue to be regulated by the Housing ( Scotland) Act 1988 ( H( S) A 1988), including its...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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