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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

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)

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

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

Introduction

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has not been shy in putting forward his intention of “destroying the outdated feudal system of leasehold“, at least as far as residential property is concerned.  The Leasehold and Freehold Bill (“LAFB”), announced in the King’s speech which opened the new parliamentary session, falls some way short of this intention.  However, it does show Mr Gove’s continuing intention to introduce measures which he claims are fairer for residential long leaseholders.  Landlords may have a different perspective. 

Nor are tenants left out:  the Renters (Reform) Bill is back centre stage.  Below, we take a closer look at the proposed legislation.Continue Reading The King’s Speech: no tidings of great joy for landlords

The Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 (the “Act”) was intended to give tenants security of tenure to carry on their businesses without the disruption of relocation and the attendant risk of loss of goodwill. However, the interests of the landlord in maximising the value of its own premises were also considered in the Act, with provision that a landlord may recover possession if (amongst other grounds) it can prove the intention to redevelop the premises. A recent High Court decision has provided an interesting (and from a landlord’s perspective, welcome) steer on the weight the court gives to a landlord’s future right to redevelop.Continue Reading Landlord gets second chance after missing crucial date in lease renewal proceedings