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Introduction

Part X of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (the “Act”) introduced what the Conservative government hoped would provide a solution to all the boarded up shops, cafes and pubs on high streets across the country.  It gave a permissive power to the relevant local authority to require vacant properties to be let through an auction process and,  in effect, deprive the landlord of management of its own property.  Continue Reading Will High Street Auctions bring about a renaissance of the High Street?

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

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

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

The case of Messenex Limited v Lanark Square Limited[2024] presents both landlords and tenants with a few illustrations of how not to run an application for consent to alterations. 

Facts

The Tenant held a two hundred year lease of a mixed use building in Docklands, London, and made two separate applications for a licence to alter in respect of two sets of works for which it had already obtained planning permission.  The first was to add three stories to the four storey block, adding a total of nine flats to the building.  The second – a smaller project – was to reconfigure the ground floor of the building as four new residential units in place of the existing offices.   Continue Reading “Reasonable Reasons” and Collateral Advantage – not a numbers game

In a recent decision of the High Court in R (Aysen Dennis) v London Borough of Southwark, Holgate J held that an outline planning permission for a large-scale mixed use regeneration project in South London could not be regarded as “severable” so as to allow a developer to carry out one phase of the development under a separate “drop-in” permission.

The developer had obtained outline planning permission in 2015 for the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark. Following the grant of the permission, the Council’s Local Plan adopted policies increasing the requirement for new homes and affordable housing. To meet these new requirements the developer needed to exceed the parameters for development (including height of buildings) approved under the outline permission. They obtained a separate “drop-in” permission to allow this but wanted to build out the rest of the development under the outline planning permission.Continue Reading High Court judgment restricts use of “drop-in” permissions

The Curry Mile in Manchester is a stretch of the Wilmslow Road, leading from the city centre to the suburbs. It is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops from all parts of the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Afghan restaurants rub shoulders with Bangladeshi sweet shops and continental stores display fruit and vegetables on pavement stands to tempt in the passers-by who are a mix of locals and students from Manchester’s two universities.

Compliance with planning regulations is not the chief concern of the restauranteurs, bartenders and shopkeepers, but a very recent sentencing decision of HHJ Timothy Smith at Manchester Crown Court illustrates starkly that a landlord cannot allow its tenant to disregard planning controls and ignore planning enforcementContinue Reading “Hot” Rent – Landlord finds rent confiscated as proceeds of crime

In the last of our blogs on developments in planning law in 2022, we consider the extent to which you can change the development for which planning permission has been given without the need to make a new application for a full planning permission.

The Reid Case – The facts

The issue was considered in the High Court case of Reid v Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities (2022) (“Reid“).Continue Reading Our top 6 Planning Law takeaways for 2022 – Part 6: How to get a new planning permission without applying for it

In the fifth of our blogs on recent developments in planning law, we turn our attention to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 introduced by Jacob Rees-Mogg at the height of the Truss premiership in September 2022. 

Described by Professor Michael Zander KC as “one of the worst pieces of legislation I can remember in some 60 years of following the law-making process“, the Bill seeks to deliver on the Brexit promise of taking back control of our legislation.Continue Reading Our top 6 Planning Law takeaways for 2022 – Part 5: Retained EU Law Repeal Bill

Admittedly, a blog on the intricacies of the Community Infrastructure Levy (“CIL“) doesn’t sound like a very appealing prospect, but everyone needs their medicine occasionally.

In December 2022, the Court of Appeal had to consider the legal consequences of a local authority’s failure to serve a CIL liability notice and the question of whether the local authority could correct the defects in an earlier notice by serving a revised CIL liability notice.Continue Reading Our top 6 Planning Law takeaways in 2022 – Part 4: What happens if the local authority gets its CIL paperwork wrong?