Featured documents
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:
Most recent Practice notes
This Practice Note examines HM Land Registry’s ( HMLR) plan-related requirements, outlining core standards for plans that will be accepted and highlighting common grounds for refusal. It also addresses plan expectations for particular application types and explains how general and determined boundaries differ on HMLR title plans. HM Land Registry plan requirements Background Under rule 5(a) of the Land Registration Rules 2003, SI 2003/1417 ( LRR 2003), save where an exception applies, the property register for a registered estate must include a description of that estate which, for an estate in land, a rentcharge, or a registered franchise that is an affecting franchise (ie one identifiable as relating to a specific area), must incorporate a reference to a plan derived from the Ordnance Survey map. Any plan lodged with HMLR must be clear enough for the land in question to be located on the Ordnance Survey...
Farm business tenancies Farm business tenancies took effect on 1 September 1995 under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 ( ATA 1995). They mark a clear break from the framework that applies when a tenancy of an agricultural holding is protected under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 ( AHA 1986). While AHA 1986 is highly prescriptive about what constitutes a tenancy of an agricultural holding, ATA 1995, in most respects, allows the landlord and the tenant to negotiate freely on almost all matters. Nevertheless, some rules are mandatory and cover: rent ( ATA 1995, Pt II) compensation ( ATA 1995, Pt III) removal of tenant's fixtures ( ATA 1995, s 8) The AHA 1986 and ATA 1995 regimes cannot overlap, so it is essential to identify accurately which form of tenancy applies. In addition, if the tenancy is a farm business tenancy, it cannot be a...
When transferring an interest in land (whether freehold or leasehold) On a transfer of a land interest, and unless the contract states otherwise: fixtures are treated as part of the land and pass with the property; and fittings (also called chattels) are not part of the land and are excluded. It is not always straightforward to decide if a given item is a fixture or a fitting. That uncertainty can trigger disagreements over whether the item is included in the sale. It can also create difficulties when splitting the purchase price between the property and any chattels comprised in the sale for stamp duty land tax ( SDLT)/land transaction tax ( LTT) purposes (see: Tax—fixtures and fittings below). Under a lease, as between landlord and tenant, the drafting may mean an item is classed as a landlord’s fixture, a tenant’s fixture, or a...
What is a grazing agreement? A grazing agreement is where a landowner permits a grazier to use the owner’s land to graze animals that belong to, or are under the care of, the grazier. Such arrangements are often put in place for the summer period ( April to October), but they can run for any length and at any time of year. Depending on the circumstances, the arrangement may amount to a licence or a tenancy. Status of grazing agreements under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 ( AHA 1986) provides security of tenure and other significant rights to anyone who holds a ‘contract of tenancy’ of ‘agricultural land’. ‘ Agricultural land’ covers land used for ‘agriculture’, and ‘agriculture’ expressly includes ‘grazing’ ( AHA 1986, ss 1, 96(1)). A ‘contract of tenancy’ is defined as a ‘letting of land, or...
This Practice Note outlines HM Land Registry ( HMLR) requirements for providing evidence of identity with certain applications to guard against property and registration fraud. It explains when identity evidence is required, how it can be supplied, and the practical points that arise from this obligation. HM Land Registry requirements To strengthen protection against property and registration fraud, HMLR requires confirmation of identity to accompany specified registration applications. The applications caught by this requirement are listed in HM Land Registry Practice Guide 67: evidence of identity, and include: Applications to register a transfer, lease or charge The discharge or release of a registered charge Applications for first registration Any application submitted on forms AP1, DS2 and FR1 will almost always require completion of the panels dealing with confirmation of identity. The names of all parties to the transaction(s) being registered must be stated where requested; for an...
This Practice Note sets out the requirements for establishing a general partnership under the Partnership Act 1890 ( PA 1890). It also addresses statutory limits on the partnership’s name, the trading disclosures partnerships must provide, and the duty to prepare and retain partnership accounts. Formation To create a partnership, there is no need to file documents, register details anywhere, or complete other formalities. Two people may form one simply by beginning to run a business together and sharing profits, provided the definition below is satisfied. For an overview, see flowchart: Forming a general partnership—flowchart. For how a partnership may come to an end, see Practice Notes: Ending a general partnership—dissolution otherwise than by the court and Ending a general partnership—dissolution by the court. ‘ Partnership’ is defined in the PA 1890 as ‘the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of...
Funding options When establishing a joint venture ( JV), the parties must decide how it will be financed, both at the outset and throughout the life of the arrangement. Although this note focuses on the key funding issues typically arising in corporate JVs, the overarching principles are relevant to all JV structures. The selection of finance methods may turn on: the parties’ commercial aims the comparative resources available to each party whether the parties intend and are able to finance the JV themselves or if external finance will be required, and tax considerations A joint venture company ( JVC) is usually financed, initially and on an ongoing basis, by a combination of the following methods: The joint venture agreement ( JVA) should specify how the JV’s initial and future funding needs will be met......
Collateral warranties rank among the key documents in real estate development finance facilities. Issued by the principal members of the project team to both lender and borrower, they forge a contractual connection that would otherwise be absent and often grant significant step-in rights to the relevant party. This Practice Note covers: what collateral warranties are how collateral warranties are used in real estate development facilities the rights conferred by collateral warranties What is a collateral warranty? A collateral warranty is a contract that is collateral to, or runs alongside, an underlying agreement. In the context of real estate development facilities, these warranties typically sit next to the key development documents (see Practice Note: Real estate development finance—introduction to the development documentation). The effect is to create a direct contractual link where one would not usually exist, enabling a third party to have a...
Many of the standard conditions precedent ( CPs) associated with a conventional syndicated loan facility will likewise be highly relevant to a real estate finance transaction. For further information on those CPs, please refer to Practice Note: Conditions precedent. In a real estate development finance arrangement, the borrower obtains funding not only to acquire the property but also to carry out the development itself. As a result, a large number of CPs used in real estate finance investment facility agreements will also govern development facilities, with additional CPs required to address the development aspects of the transaction. This Practice Note considers the real estate finance specific CPs that typically arise and apply in a real estate development finance transaction. For details on CPs in real estate finance investment facilities, see Practice Note: Real estate...
This Practice Note reviews the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, which governs both jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. It outlines the scope of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and the need for an international case anchored by an exclusive choice of court agreement. It also examines issues lying outside the Convention’s reach, whether by specific exclusions within the text or through declarations made by contracting states. The Practice Note considers how the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements applies in the UK. An explanatory report on the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements by Trevor Hartley and Masato Dogauchi supplies detailed commentary on each article. When did the Convention come into force? The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements was concluded on 30 June 2005 and was first ratified by Mexico, followed by the EU. In...
This Practice Note This Practice Note sets out guidance on completing a landlord’s warning notice and a tenant’s declaration for the purpose of contracting out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 ( LTA 1954)—namely excluding sections 24–28 on a new business tenancy so the tenant does not obtain statutory security of tenure. Detailed guidance on contracting out of the LTA 1954, including: leases to which the LTA 1954 applies when and how a landlord’s notice should be served when and how a tenant’s declaration or statutory declaration should be made can be found in Practice Note: Contracting out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954—procedures, timing and pitfalls and Contracting out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954—procedure for a new lease—checklist; both should be consulted before using this guide. This Practice Note proceeds on the basis of a basic...
Practice Note This Practice Note links to the RICS Code for leasing business premises, first edition, an RICS professional standard ( Lease Code 2020) that also includes pro forma heads of terms ( Appendix A) and a guide for landlords and tenants......
Sections 191–218 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 ( LURA 2023) ( Part 10) set out powers allowing local authorities ( LAs) to run rental auctions for empty high street and town centre premises and then grant lettings without the consent of the owner (landlord), any superior landlord, or a mortgagee. The scope of Part 10 is limited to England. These provisions took effect on 2 December 2024 and are supported by the Local Authorities ( Rental Auctions) ( England) and Town and Country Planning ( General Permitted Development) ( Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1139 ( LA( RA) 2024 Regs). The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ( MHCLG) has issued non-statutory Guidance on high street rental auctions ( Guidance), which provides a handy flowchart of the process from start to finish and template forms, letters, tenancy contract and...
The Building Act 1984 ( BA 1984) BA 1984 authorises the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers to create building regulations for multiple aims, among them safeguarding the health and safety of people in or around buildings. It creates criminal liability for contraventions of those regulations. It further allows practical guidance on the requirements of the building regulations to be set out in Approved Documents. The Building Regulations 2010, SI 2010/2214 ( Building Regulations), are issued under BA 1984 as its enabling statute......
This Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the statutory fire safety framework that owners or occupiers of property are required to follow. It chiefly addresses obligations arising under: the Regulatory Reform ( Fire Safety) Order 2005, SI 2005/1541 ( RRO 2005)—the principal legislation for general fire safety in non-domestic premises in England and Wales the Fire Safety Act 2021—clarifying how RRO 2005, SI 2005/1541 applies to buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises the Fire Safety ( England) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/547 ( FSR 2022)—regulations made under RRO 2005, SI 2005/1541 that impose specific duties under RRO 2005, SI 2005/1541 on certain residential buildings in England section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA 2022)—introducing new duties under RRO 2005, SI 2005/1541 for buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises the Fire Safety (...
The Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA 2022) The Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA 2022) introduced sweeping reforms to the legal framework for building safety. For an overview of the changes made by BSA 2022 and its principal features, see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—key provisions and issues. Parts 3 and 4 of BSA 2022 set the foundations for a fresh regulatory system for ‘higher-risk buildings’ ( HRBs). By amending the Building Act 1984 ( BA 1984), Part 3 enabled a more stringent building control regime to govern the design and construction of works to HRBs. The detailed requirements of this regime were contained in a suite of secondary legislation laid in August 2023, which came into force on 1 October 2023. Part 4 places extensive obligations on those accountable for occupied HRBs, particularly in relation to risk management and...
Common law tenancies Common law tenancies are lettings that sit outside any statutory security of tenure regimes. Examples include: for residential property, the Rent Act 1977, Housing Act 1985 or Housing Act 1988 (see Practice Note: A summary of types of private residential tenancies and Social sector tenancies—overview) for commercial property, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 ( LTA 1954) (see Practice Note: LTA 1954 business lease renewal—termination) for agricultural property, the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (see: Agricultural holdings—overview) Under a common law tenancy, the parties’ rights and obligations flow from the terms they have agreed, whether expressly stated or implied. After a common law tenancy expires, and particularly where the LTA 1954 has been contracted out, caution is needed if a tenant is permitted to remain in occupation whilst negotiations proceed for the grant of a new......
What is the Trust Registration Service? The Trust Registration Service ( TRS) was brought in by HMRC in 2017 to give effect to the EU Fourth Money Laundering Directive, and at the outset it applied solely to taxable trusts that were required to register. Where a trust created a UK tax outcome, trustees had to register, supply specified details about beneficial ownership and retain certain records. These requirements have since widened to include all express trusts, irrespective of any UK tax position. An express trust must be registered unless it falls within an excluded category listed in Schedule 3A of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds ( Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/692 ( MLR 2017). The principal legislation in this area is: EU Fourth Anti Money Laundering Directive ( EU) 2015/849 Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance on the Act’s effect on residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters’ Rights Act 2025—key provisions. The Practice Note outlines, for both residential and commercial leases, what a break clause is, the circumstances in which it can be exercised—including construing typical deadlines for serving a break notice and the meanings of ‘year’, ‘month’ and the ‘corresponding date rule’—and the required form of a break notice. It also surveys case law on mistakes in meeting break notice requirements, with particular emphasis on the reasonable recipient test in Mannai, and how that principle applies to familiar categories of error. In addition, it addresses the application of Mannai to the service of statutory notices and the types of mistake frequently encountered, namely completion errors and errors of form......
When does risk pass to the buyer? The core rule applied in most contracts is that risk transfers to the buyer at exchange of contracts. Parties rarely depart from this unless the seller is undertaking works or there is an extended gap between exchange and completion. This mirrors the common law stance (the ‘open contract’ position) and is endorsed by the Standard Commercial Property Conditions ( Third Edition—2018 Revision) ( SCPCs), condition 8.1: ‘ The property is at the risk of the buyer from the date of the contract.’ The timing of the transfer of risk is distinct from the question of who provides insurance during the period between exchange and completion. That issue depends on whether the sale is with vacant possession or subject to existing leases. Regardless of the insurance arrangement, risk must lie with the buyer, as loss may arise from perils that are...
Popular documents
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 ]...
Discover more from LexisNexis
