In the recent case of Bijlani v Medical Express (London) Ltd [2024] EWHC 2246 (KB), the High Court illustrated again that a landlord’s right to forfeit a lease is only a form of security for the tenant’s continuing performance of its obligations under its lease.  If the landlord is not prejudiced by breach of a covenant and the breach is unlikely to recur, then relief from forfeiture may be granted.  Forfeiture should not be used as a way of penalising a tenant for perceived bad behaviour. 

Continue Reading Lease and Desist: The Case of Dr. Bijlani’s Botox Blunder

Readers may remember our rather gloomy blog on Mr. Gove’s Renters’ Reform Bill.  Our view then was that landlords didn’t need to panic – yet.  Unfortunately, with the Renters’ Rights Bill, it may be time for landlords to start feeling distinctly anxious.  The headline change in the Renters’ Reform Bill was to abolish so-called “no-fault eviction”.  In the end, Mr. Gove’s reforms foundered on the Conservative bank benches –  there would be no abolition of no fault evictions until the county court system sorted itself out and waiting times for hearings cut. 

Continue Reading The Renters’ Rights Bill: Bad News for Landlords

The King’s Speech 2024, delivered on 17 July 2024, outlined the new UK Government’s legislative agenda for the next session of Parliament.  The new MPs will be busy, with close to 40 separate bills slated for debate. 

With regard to real estate, especially with the private rented sector, there is a distinct feeling of déjà vu. The Renters (Reform) Bill, sponsored by Michael Gove, is re-fashioned as the Renters Rights Bill, and is likely to contain all of the measures set out in its predecessor, before the Conservative back benches forced a dilution of the pro-tenant measures. 

Continue Reading The King’s Speech: implications for residential property

The major political parties have all now launched their manifestos, with few surprises.  In the table below, we compare and contrast the policies set out in the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green Party manifestos insofar as they might impact on the real estate sector. 

Continue Reading 2024 election manifestos – real estate policies of the UK major political parties

Background

This case involved a dispute between McDonald’s Restaurants Limited (“McDonald’s”), the former tenant of part of the old County Hall building in London (the “Premises”), and Shirayama Shokusan Company Limited (“Shirayama”), the landlord of the Premises. McDonald’s had a protected lease of the Premises (i.e. benefitting from security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the “Act”)) for a period of 20 years from December 1997. 

Continue Reading Landlord penalised for its evidence despite a successful application under section 30(1)(g) of Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 – McDonald’s v Shirayama [2024] EWHC 1133 (Ch)

As the rain streamed down, Rishi Sunak stood outside Downing Street and announced that Parliament will be dissolved on 30 May 2024 ahead of the General Election on 4 July.  However, no parliamentary business can be carried out after 24 May when Parliament is prorogued (suspended). 

Continue Reading Where now for the Renters’ (Reform) Bill and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill?
Building abstract

In a survey carried out by HSBC in 2023, 97% of real estate developers and investors said net zero was important to their business and 59% of the largest real estate companies said net zero was their top priority.

A third of companies in the sector already have Transition Plans and the push for formalising Transition Plans across the sector is increasing.

In April 2024, the Transition Plan Taskforce (“TPT”) published its final set of transition plan resources to help businesses transition to net zero.

Continue Reading Transition Plans & Real Estate

Background

The decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (the “Tribunal“) in Triathlon Homes LLP v Stratford Village Development Partnership and others [2024] provides the first indication of how the Tribunal will consider applications for remediation contribution orders (“RCOs“) made against a developer and its ultimate parent company.

The Facts

Stratford Village Development Partnership (“SVDP“) developed buildings in Stratford, East London as part of an athletes’ village for the London 2012 Olympic Games. SVDP subsequently retrofitted this village into a large permanent residential estate known as East Village which provided affordable homes, mostly contained in 66 residential buildings of between 8 and 12 storeys in height. This case concerned five of these buildings.

Continue Reading Remediation Contribution Orders: An Olympic decision against developers and their parent companies

One of the key parts of the Building Safety Act 2022 is the new Gateway regime for ‘higher risk buildings’, which came into full force on 1 October 2023  This is a three step approval process that is intended to ensure that, in the post-Grenfell landscape, building safety risks are properly scrutinised by the new Building Safety Regulator (the “BSR”) at the planning, design and construction phases of a development of a ‘higher risk building’ (or when carrying out  works to an existing ‘higher risk building’). 

Continue Reading Getting to grips with the new Building Safety Act Gateway regime – how will this impact development in the living sector?

Background

Cases on failure to complete sale and purchase contracts of land are not uncommon.  Much rarer are disputes over the consequences of failure to pay the required deposit when the contract is formed, because the mechanics of the Standard Commercial Property Conditions require payment by electronic means from the buyer’s conveyancer on the same day as exchange of contracts.  The involvement of conveyancers therefore minimises any possibility of default by the buyer. 

The case of IAA Vehicle Services Limited v HBC Limited [2024] EWHC 1 (Ch) is one of those rare cases and provides an opportunity to remind ourselves of the usefulness of the court’s equitable discretion in certain circumstances . 

Continue Reading It all depends – time is not always of the essence in contracts for the sale of land