Legal Q&A

The question considered by the Supreme Court in Lipton, and the Interpretation Act (or accrued rights) analysis In Lipton v BA Cityflyer, the UK Supreme Court, speaking obiter, examined the temporal reach of the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 ( EU( W) A 2018). The issue was whether the provisions on retained EU law ( REUL) must be applied by courts to disputes founded on facts predating IP completion day at the end of 2020, and to rights and liabilities that had already crystallised by that point. For ease of reference in this Q& A, matters turning on facts from before IP completion day are called ‘pre- Brexit cases’, while those arising from facts after that date are termed ‘post- Brexit cases’. On one interpretation, the response is that the EU( W) A 2018 provisions concerning REUL and assimilated law have no...

The Employment Agencies Act 1973, together with the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, SI 2003/3319 ( Conduct Regs 2003), regulate the private recruitment sector and establish minimum requirements for employment agencies and employment businesses trading from premises in Great Britain (ie England, Wales and Scotland). The Conduct Regs 2003 apply in circumstances where an employment agency or an employment business provides work-finding services to a work-seeker......

A buyer for value of land burdened by a legal or equitable rentcharge in favour of a charity will take subject to that rentcharge, unless: the rentcharge is registrable as a land charge and is void against him for want of registration (see sections 2 and 4 of the Land Charges Act 1972; section 24 of the Law of Property Act 1969; section 2(1)(i) of the Law of Property Act 1925 ( LPA 1925)); the sale is made in exercise of powers under the Settled Land Act 1925 ( SLA 1925) and the rentcharge is capable of being overreached on such a sale (see SLA 1925, s 72; LPA 1925, s 2(1)(i)); or for an equitable rentcharge, the purchaser had no notice of it ( Re Alms Corn Charity, Charity Comrs v Bode). Also note that, depending on the date of the rentcharge, the...

Are business rates payable? In England and Wales, liability to business rates turns on occupation. Commercial premises in occupation attract the full charge, while empty premises may escape liability where an exemption applies. Occupied commercial property is charged at the full rate without reduction. One such relief covers a non-domestic hereditament that is either the subject of a winding-up order under the Insolvency Act 1986, or is being wound up voluntarily under that Act. The legal basis is the Non- Domestic Rating ( Unoccupied Property) ( England) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/386, reg 4(k). When is a property occupied? A company will be rateable as the occupier only if it is in ‘actual possession’ and exercises a ‘sufficient measure of control to prevent strangers from interfering’. Both elements are required to establish rateable occupation status......

Part I of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 ( LRHUDA 1993) Part I of the LRHUDA 1993 provides qualifying tenants of flats with two principal rights: a collective right to acquire the freehold of the block (collective enfranchisement) where the flats are in premises that satisfy specified conditions an individual right to a new lease that runs for 90 years after the existing lease comes to an end The right to collective enfranchisement only arises if a number of requirements are met. These relate to the nature of the building, the terms of the leases and the status of the tenants......

Yes, bank holidays are excluded when calculating the time period in an adjudication under the Scheme for Construction Contracts. The Scheme for Construction Contracts (the Scheme) sets out certain default rules governing the entitlement to start, and the practical management of, an adjudication process. Under section 108(5) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 ( HGCRA 1996), the Scheme’s terms are read into a construction contract where it omits, or conflicts with, any of the obligations in subsections 108(1) to (4)......

Automatic enrolment does not apply to workers under age 22. Individuals younger than 22 fall outside automatic enrolment. However, anyone aged 16 to 21 with qualifying earnings of £6,032 or above in the 2018–19 tax year may choose to join their employer’s automatic enrolment arrangement and receive employer pension contributions. For the purposes of limb (a) in section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996), a worker is an individual who has entered into, or works or worked under, a contract of employment. Under ERA 1996, section 230(2), a contract of employment means a contract of service or apprenticeship. An apprenticeship agreement meeting the requirements of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 is treated as a contract of service, not a contract of apprenticeship. See Practice Notes: Employee status and...

Under the Education Act 1996 and the Education ( School Day and School Year) ( England) Regulations 1999, schools are legally required to operate for at least 380 sessions, or 190 days, during each academic year in England......

Based on our understanding, there are no specific rules regarding the way multiple mobile home owners must record their respective ownership shares formally......

No statute sets out what counts as a non-matrimonial asset, yet case law has long examined and refined the line between these items and property included within the marital acquest during divorce proceedings. An interest a spouse obtains during the marriage in a parent’s home can be treated as comparable to an inheritance and, for the purposes of classification in financial remedy claims and outcomes, viewed as non-matrimonial. Such an interest might indeed effectively amount to a lifetime gift or a pre-death inheritance......

Sold as seen ‘ Sold as seen’ lacks a precise statutory definition, yet commonly signifies that the property is transferred exactly as it stands at the moment of sale—i.e. no warranties or assurances are provided about its state, condition, or faults or defects. When used in relation to chattels, it typically conveys that no assurances or guarantees are offered concerning those particular chattels or their condition......

A charity may hold legal title to land or property in its own name only if it is a charitable incorporated organisation or a charitable company. Land Registry Guidance Practical Guidance 14: Charities explains that the term “trust corporation” includes: the Public Trustee (who is not permitted to accept trusts for charitable purposes); a corporation appointed by the court, in any particular instance, to act as trustee; and a corporation entitled, under rules made pursuant to section 4(3) of the Public Trustee Act 1906, to act as a custodian trustee. See section 205(1)(xxix) of the Law of Property Act 1925 and section 17(1)(xxx) of the Settled Land Act 1925, and also section 3 of the Law of Property ( Amendment) Act 1926......

Acquisition or appropriation of remainderman's interest Under a life interest trust, the life tenant is entitled to live in the property or take the income it produces. The scenario assumes the life tenant might acquire the remainderman’s interest in the property, thereby converting their position into an absolute interest. In such a case, the remainderman would receive cash in exchange for their reversionary interest. Where the Will trust does not confer an express power on trustees to reallocate or modify beneficial interests, the life tenant and the remainderman may agree a variation pursuant to the rule in Saunders v Vautier, so long as they are both of full age and have capacity. This route is unavailable if any minors or unborn persons have, or may have, an interest under the trust. If there are potential beneficiaries of that kind, an...

For this Q& A, it is taken that the property serves as the principal private residence of the life tenant within the trust arrangement. Principal private residence relief The trustees and the life tenant alike might qualify to claim principal private residence ( PPR) relief on gains realised from the eventual sale of the property concerned......

Joint property ownership in England and Wales When property is owned jointly in England and Wales, it is held in two ways. The legal title shows the names under which the property is registered. Those legal owners hold it on trust for the beneficial owners (also called equitable owners). Beneficial owners are often the same as the legal owners, but need not be. Legal title is always held as joint tenants. Accordingly, the registered owners hold the property ‘per muy et per tout’: each owns the entirety rather than fixed shares......

What is pre-planning restrictive covenant insurance? Restrictive covenant insurance safeguards people holding an interest in land that is burdened or encumbered by a restrictive covenant. It generally also covers losses including: damages awarded against the insured expenses to modify or demolish a building or other structures to comply with a covenant abortive works costs legal costs This cover can be arranged before planning consent has been obtained for a development where the intended development site is burdened by restrictive covenants. That includes situations where planning permission has not yet been obtained. When is it appropriate to take out a pre-planning restrictive covenant insurance policy? Clearly, if a restrictive covenant looks likely to affect the proposed development, all efforts should be made to resolve matters at the earliest opportunity. Every effort should be made to iron out issues as early as...

This response addresses a situation where a party asserts the benefit, as overriding interests, of a five-year business lease and of chancel repair liability. Both arose before the land was registered yet were not recorded against the title, and the question is whether they could constitute overriding interests. Chancel repair liability Chancel repair liability has historically been difficult to pinpoint or verify because there is no single central register that sets out all such liabilities (see Practice Note: Chancel repair liability)......

This Q& A considers a tenant who is in a tenancy in common with another tenant, who petitions for bankruptcy after exchange and before the completion of a sale of the property that the two tenants own. It examines the first co-owner’s exposure to the purchaser and what remedies he or she may pursue against the other co-tenant if the purchaser serves a notice to complete. As to contractual responsibility, this turns on the contract’s terms. By way of illustration, if the sellers have joint and several obligations, the innocent party is nonetheless answerable to the purchasers. For further details, see Practice Note: Joint, several, and joint and several liability......

When a defendant defeats a claim, the default position is that the claimant must meet the defendant’s legal costs arising from the claim. Yet CPR 44.2(1)(a) gives the court freedom to decide if, and by whom, costs should be paid. In proceedings with multiple defendants, that discretion allows the court to order an unsuccessful co-defendant, instead of the claimant, to bear the successful defendant’s costs in such circumstances as appropriate......

Major revisions to the section 21 framework followed the Deregulation Act 2015 ( DA 2015), which, inter alia, amended the Housing Act 1988 ( HA 1988), the Housing Act 2004 and the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements ( England) Regulations 2015 ( ASTN Regs 2015), SI 2015/1646. By s 37 DA 2015, section 21 gained an enabling power for regulations to stipulate the prescribed form of a section 21 notice, and the ASTN Regs 2015, SI 2015/1646 were made accordingly. Under reg 1 of the ASTN Regs 2015, SI 2015/1646, the regime applies to an assured shorthold tenancy ( AST) of a dwelling-house in England granted on or after 1 October 2015; however, it does not extend to a tenancy which arises on or after that date upon the termination of an AST that had been granted before then......