Sunday, December 11th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent
Paul Greatholder of Russell-Cooke reports that there is an obligation upon the tenant to return demised property at the end of the tenancy in a good state of repair. The problem with dilapidations disputes was that there was a perception that landlords were exaggerating their claims, thus leading to a failure to resolve disputes in a commercial way. The Civil Procedure Rules in 1999 was not designed to change the law, but to persuade parties who are in a dispute to take certain steps before issuing court proceedings to see if the dispute could be resolved, or at least any differences. The ‘persuasion’ arises from the risk that if a party chooses not to follow a protocol…..
Read the full article here.
Wednesday, November 16th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service charge audits
Eversheds has reported that, whilst there is no hard rule that use of general words in a service charge clause prevents recovery of related legal costs, in order to be certain, an obligation to pay solicitors’ costs under the service charge provision should be clearly spelt out. If those solicitors’ costs are to include litigation costs then that should equally be made clear.
Remember that, even where the lease makes provision for recovery of costs as part of the service charge, this can be overridden by the provisions of s20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
This was clarified in the recent case Sinclair Gardens Investments (Kensington) LTD v Avon Estates (London) LTD.
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Tuesday, October 4th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
In an article by Mills and Reeve, a tenant of part of a building had some concerns regarding the service charge. Due to these concerns, payment of the service charge was withheld by the tenant. There was correspondence between the tenant and the landlord’s managing agent’s solicitor regarding this matter and a service charge dispute had arisen on at least five occasions. In readiness for a sale of the property, draft replies to commercial property standard enquiries were prepared and the replies said that there were no disputes outstanding, likely or in the past and that there were no service charge arrears. The buyer’s solicitors asked for further information in relation to the service charge accounts and collection period. This information was not provided. Consequently, the court decided that the buyer was entitled to terminate the sale contract, have the deposit returned and to receive damages for deceit.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Samantha Bell of Gordons has reported that, in the recent case of Queensbridge Investments Ltd v Lodge, a landlord owned a property which had been let to residential and commercial tenants. The tenants claimed that the disrepair to the property was causing safety issues. Due to the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs, the residential tenants applied to the First-Tier Tribunal for a management order under Section 24 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. In other words, the tenants wanted the Court to take management of the building out of the landlord’s hands.
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Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
Hardwicke’s report that the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has now published its long awaited decision concerning the proper interpretation of the power to award costs for unreasonable conduct of proceedings. The decision, determining 3 conjoined appeals in which in every case the appellant had had an order for costs made against it, will be of interest to all who appear in the Tribunal on residential property cases…
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Wednesday, July 6th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, News
Richard Cressall of Gordons comments on the case where M&S broke its lease, having paid both a break penalty and the full quarter’s rent and the question the Supreme Court had to answer was whether M&S could claim a refund of the rent paid for the period after the break date.
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Thursday, June 30th, 2016 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Samantha Bell of Gordons notes that, in a recent case, a residential tenant claimed that the disrepair to the property was causing safety issues. The tenant applied to the First-Tier Tribunal for a management order under Section 24 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, whereby the Court would take management of the building out of the landlord’s hands. The Tribunal criticised the landlord and found that it had failed to comply with its responsibilities…
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Thursday, April 28th, 2016 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Dilpesh Shah of DAC Beachcroft has reported that, in a recent court decision, Fairbairn v Etal Court Maintenance Ltd (2015), it has been confirmed that landlords of residential premises cannot charge their tenants through the service charge for costs which have been incurred as a result of the landlord’s own breach.
Read the full article here
Saturday, March 26th, 2016 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Dutton Gregory LLP has reported that managing residential property is a legally complex task and is not for amateurs. In one case which proved the point, benevolent landlords found themselves having to take court action after dispensing with formalities in order to save their tenants money.
Read the full article here
Tuesday, March 15th, 2016 in Landlord, News, Residential
Morven Coulter of Morton Fraser notes that, after spending some time agreeing terms for new lettings, landlords want those terms documented and the tenant in and paying rent as soon as possible. They don’t welcome new points being debated or any delay caused by further discussions on commercial points that they thought were agreed.
Read the full article here
