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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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This Practice Note sets out what is meant by a ‘lease re-gear’, identifies typical catalysts for re-gears and the commercial motivations for both landlords and tenants. It also highlights examples of lease provisions commonly revisited on a re-gear and outlines how a re-gear might be structured. What is a lease re-gear? A ‘lease re-gear’ is a commercial label for renegotiating the terms of a lease during its term. While the phrases ‘lease variation’ and ‘lease re-gear’ are often treated as equivalent, a re-gear does not necessarily include a formal lease variation. A formal variation is only one method to achieve a re-gear, and additional transactions are frequently required to give effect to the new commercial understanding between landlord and tenant. Depending on the agreed position, a re-gear can involve: a deed of variation a surrender and re-grant (for example, surrender of the existing lease by deed or by...
This Practice Note explores keep open clauses in Scottish commercial leases. It explains what a keep open clause is and why parties may wish to include one in their lease; identifies key points for a solicitor when drafting; and outlines the remedies a landlord may seek where a tenant breaches the clause. It also briefly contrasts the enforcement approaches in Scotland and England, and notes the factors considered by the Scottish courts during enforcement. The Practice Note does not address the legal position outwith Scotland, other than short commentary on the difference in the English and Scottish court’s approach to enforcing keep open clauses. Accordingly, it does not cover drafting issues for English solicitors or the English common law. User restrictions and matters relating to change of use provisions are likewise excluded. Keep open clauses-the basics Common law...
Introductory guide to non-contentious property law and practice This starter guide is written for trainees and others new to the Property practice area. It sets out the core principles that govern property law and everyday practice, and signposts numerous Lexis+® UK resources offering fuller coverage of the subjects introduced here. Newcomers will also find the Overviews within each Property topic helpful. If an issue is not addressed within this basic guide, return to the Property homepage to explore further content, or use Lexis Ask to put a question to the team. Topics covered What do property lawyers do? Land ownership Land registration and HM Land Registry Transferring land—residential and commercial conveyancing Mortgages and legal charges Leases, licences and the nature of occupation Commercial leases Commercial leases and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 ...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : On 27 October 2025, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 officially obtained Royal Assent. For further advice and guidance on how the Act affects residential tenancies in England, please consult Practice Note: Renters’ Rights Act 2025—key provisions. Residential flat schemes can be set up by several different methods in practice. These options are outlined in detail within Practice Note: Residential flat schemes— Alternative schemes. This Practice Note concentrates on the broader matters to assess when representing a purchaser of a flat in any residential flat scheme. For more detailed analysis of the pros and cons of holding a freehold unit in a commonhold, compared with a leasehold interest in one of those schemes, please refer to Practice Note: Residential flat schemes—leasehold v commonhold......
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : On 27 October 2025, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent. For guidance on the Act’s effect on residential tenancies in England, refer to Practice Note: Renters' Rights Act 2025—key provisions. Distinguishing between categories of private residential tenancy turns on the date the tenancy was created and the legislation then in force. This Practice Note surveys the principal forms of private residential tenancy in England and examines four categories: regulated tenancies under the Rent Act 1977 ( RA 1977) assured tenancies under the Housing Act 1988 ( HA 1988) assured shorthold tenancies under HA 1988 common law tenancies In Wales, most private residential tenancies are occupation contracts under the Renting Homes ( Wales) Act 2016 ( RH( W) A 2016), which commenced on 1 December 2022 and abolished various tenancy types, including assured and assured shorthold tenancies. Existing assured and assured shorthold tenancies were...
Pursuant to Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 ( CLRA 2002), holders of long leases of flats in predominantly residential buildings (subject to specified exceptions) are entitled to assume control of the building's management: regardless of any fault by the landlord with no obligation to pay compensation This right to manage may only be exercised through membership of a right to manage ( RTM) company. Qualifying premises Qualifying premises applies where the following conditions are met: they comprise a self-contained building or part of a building, with or without appurtenant property they contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants, and the total number of flats held by qualifying tenants is at least two-thirds of the overall number of flats in the...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gained 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. This Practice Note sets out the range of obligations on private sector landlords in England designed to enhance safety standards within private tenancies. It addresses the requirements of: Gas Safety ( Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, SI 1998/2451 (as amended by the Gas Safety ( Installation and Use) ( Amendment) Regulations 2018, SI 2018/139) ( GSR 1998) Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm ( England) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/1693 (as amended by the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm ( Amendment) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/707) ( SCM 2015) Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector ( England) Regulations 2020, SI 2020/312 ( ESS 2020) For wider material on fire safety,...
Where an agreement for lease is silent on insurance, the open contract position applies: neither party has a duty to arrange cover for the premises; and the risk transfers to the tenant on exchange of the agreement for lease. In short, absent an express clause, there is no automatic cover and the tenant carries the peril once the agreement is exchanged. If the agreement adopts the Standard Commercial Property Conditions ( Second or Third Editions) or the Standard Conditions of Sale (5th Edition), the default (absent express variation) is identical: the seller/landlord need not insure the property, so the buyer/tenant bears the risk from exchange. That default applies unless the parties agree a different arrangement. Consequences of either of those scenarios For an unconditional agreement for lease, the effect is that the tenant must complete the lease even if the property is destroyed after...
Practice Note This Practice Note sets out who may seek remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, explains the subject matter of such orders, identifies potential respondents, and outlines the steps to apply. The Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA 2022) introduces provisions designed to shield certain leaseholders of ‘relevant buildings’ from bearing the expense of remedying specific historic building safety defects, while creating routes to recover those sums from persons who are landlords under leases of the building (or any part of it), pursuant to sections 116–124 and Schedule 8. As a consequence, in defined circumstances, landlords will be prevented from passing on, through the service charge, some or all of the costs they incur in addressing fire safety related defects to leaseholders via the service charge mechanism......
Parties should address explicitly within a licence for alterations any clash between the tenant’s covenants in the lease and the scope of works the landlord intends to permit. This Practice Note examines the statutory position alongside the common law approach, and highlights the potential risks where a landlord agrees to alterations that the lease prohibits. For general guidance on a landlord’s consent to alterations, see Practice Note: Landlord’s consent to alterations. See also Repairs and alterations—overview. Statutory provisions Under Section 143 of the Law of Property Act 1925, when a tenant is licensed to do an act, the licence, unless it states otherwise, extends only to: the permission actually granted, or the specific breach of any provision or covenant mentioned, or any other matter expressly authorised to be done The licence does not bar proceedings for any subsequent breach, unless the licence...
Impact of appointment The consequences of appointing a receiver under the Law of Property Act 1925 ( LPA 1925), or following a fixed charge (described in this Practice Note as an LPA/fixed charge receiver), differ markedly from the appointment of an administrator, liquidator, or a trustee in bankruptcy. This should not be conflated with those appointments. Putting in place an LPA/fixed charge receiver is a mortgagee’s remedy. It is not an insolvency process and does not, of itself, indicate that the mortgagor is insolvent. It does not, as such, amount to insolvency. Subject to the lease terms, landlord/lessor remedies—such as forfeiture—available when a lessee enters an insolvency process may not be engaged merely because an LPA/fixed charge receiver is appointed. That said, the appointment does simply affect the property, though the consequences are less severe than where insolvency procedures are actually underway. The...
Overreaching is a statutory device enabling a mortgagee (among others) to convey title to a purchaser free from any charges or encumbrances that rank after the mortgagee’s security. It is also available on receivership disposals by ensuring the transfer is executed by the mortgagee rather than the receiver. Overreaching may likewise occur where a mortgagee takes security for repayment of a loan from trustees of a trust. The mortgagee will wish to ensure that the security granted by the trustee overreaches the beneficiaries’ equitable interests. For further detail, see Practice Notes: Enforcement issues for trust property and Overreaching—sales by trustees of land. Buyer’s requirements On taking an appointment, a receiver should consider what a prospective buyer will require. Typically, the buyer will seek to acquire the property free from all charges, including the charge in favour of the selling mortgagee and any other charges...
The need for environmental protection Septic tanks and small sewage treatment plants handle domestic sewage where properties are not linked to the mains network. In England, waste water should be directed to the public foul sewer whenever doing so is reasonable. When judging reasonableness, the Environment Agency ( EA) considers relative cost, physical obstacles and environmental gains. It will typically deem connection reasonable where any boundary of the premises lies within 30 metres of a public foul sewer for a single domestic property, or within a distance calculated as 30 metres multiplied by the number of houses for multi-property developments. For premises that are not entirely domestic, the EA also applies a volume-based distance assessment. In Wales, private domestic sewage treatment within a sewered area is only allowed if connection to the public sewer is not feasible. Normally, Natural Resources Wales ( NRW) treats...
Property case tracker The Property case tracker brings together significant 2026 judgments we consider pertinent to property lawyers, listed in reverse chronological order. The tracker uses the following definitions: AST: assured shorthold tenancy CVA: company voluntary arrangement FTT: First-tier Tribunal HMO: house in multiple occupation LPA: local planning authority NPPF: National Planning Policy Framework RRO: rent repayment order RTM: right to manage TCC: Technology and Construction Court UT: Upper Tribunal ( Lands Chamber) VTE: Valuation Tribunal for England See also the Property key future developments tracker, which follows the progress and outcomes of appeal matters, while this tracker provides a summary of all cases we deem relevant to property practitioners. See further: Property case tracker—2025 Property case tracker—2024 [ Archived] Property case tracker—2023 [ Archived] Property case...
The core purpose of green belt policy is to curb urban sprawl by safeguarding land as permanently open. Openness and permanence are the defining features of green belts. Policy National policy for England’s green belts is contained in the National Planning Policy Framework ( NPPF). First issued on 27 March 2012, it has been superseded several times, most recently in December 2024. Under the NPPF, local planning authorities ( LPAs) must establish green belt boundaries and decide applications in line with its green belt policies. Inappropriate development is generally resisted unless very special circumstances can be shown such that the scheme’s benefits clearly outweigh harm to the green belt. The NPPF identifies forms of development regarded as appropriate within the green belt. This is supported by Planning Practice Guidance ( PPG) on the green belt, updated in February 2025 to reflect the...
This Practice Note outlines the statutory entitlement (subject to statutory qualifying criteria) of a tenant holding a long lease of a flat to acquire a 90-year extension of that lease under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 ( LRHUDA 1993). It includes guidance on valuation and the assessment of the premium; procedure, including service of a section 42 notice and a section 45 counter-notice; the position of intermediate landlords; registration; assignment; initial deposit; consequences of non-compliance; terms of the new lease; First-tier Tribunal ( FTT) (or Leasehold Valuation Tribunal ( LVT) in Wales) and County Court procedure; payment of the premium; completion; and withdrawal of claim. For a table setting out common statutory time limits in the lease extension procedure, see Practice Note: Quick guide to time limits for lease extensions under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban...
The RTM company Only a right to manage company can obtain and then use the right to manage. Such a company must be a private company limited by guarantee, and its objects must include the right to manage. In England, the form of the company’s articles is set by the RTM Companies ( Model Articles) ( England) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/2767; in Wales, by the RTM Companies ( Model Articles) ( Wales) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/2680 (together, the Articles Regulations). There is no requirement for the company’s name to contain the letters ‘ RTM’ ( Fairhold Mercury v HQ ( Block 1) Action Management). The articles of association must also describe the premises with adequate precision......
Under English law, binding agreements may arise orally, in writing, or by deed. This Practice Notice explores when a deed is required or preferable, and the formalities that must be observed to ensure validity. What is a deed? When a deed is required Formalities (1): in writing Formalities (2): face value Formalities (3): execution Formalities (4): delivery Escrow Witnessing Variation Failure to comply with formalities and other defects Reform For details on executing deeds in jurisdictions outside England and Wales, see Practice Note: Execution of deeds—jurisdictional guide. We have created a comprehensive, interactive collection to help users identify and navigate concepts and common issues in executing documents, including deeds. Each phase includes practical guidance, precedent clauses and Q& As relevant to that stage. For further information, see: Execution...
This Practice Note explores legal and equitable charges over land and how they are entered on HM Land Registry. For background on the nature of legal and equitable charges, see Practice Note: Mortgages and land-an introduction to mortgages and legal charges over land. While charging orders function as equitable charges, they are beyond the scope of this Practice Note. For more detail, see Practice Note: Charging orders over land-registration issues. Land Registration Act 2002 and the power to charge land Legal mortgages of land A registered proprietor of freehold or leasehold land-or a person entitled to be registered as proprietor-may: make any disposition permitted by the general law in relation to the registered estate, other than a mortgage by demise or sub-demise; and charge the estate at law with the payment of money The sole methods of creating a legal mortgage of land are by demise or by a...
Registration can have an important effect on the priority of competing security interests. In general terms, there are two broadly distinct methods for recording security interests: registration in relation to the asset that is charged, and registration against the person granting the security This Practice Note addresses specifically the first approach, where the charged property is land situated in England or Wales. For guidance on how registration over other types of asset influences the priority of security interests, see the following Practice Notes: Effect of registration on the UK Ship Register on priority of security interests Effect of registration on the UK Register of Aircraft Mortgages on priority of security interests, and Effect of registration at IP registries on priority of security interests Making an entry at an asset registry will, in most cases, have a direct bearing on the order of...
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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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