Friday, February 27th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
The Land Registry has issued a reminder that property fraud can happen in many ways. Fraudsters may attempt to acquire ownership of a property either by using a forged document to transfer it into their own name, or by impersonating the registered owner. Once they have raised money by mortgaging the property without the owner’s knowledge, they disappear without making repayments leaving the owner to deal with the consequences. If your property is registered, making sure we can contact you will provide you with better protection against fraudsters.
More information is available here
Monday, December 8th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Lynn James of dwf has highlighted a report in Estates Gazette about the fact that the leasehold management sector is currently unregulated. This has led to inconsistencies in the way in which leasehold schemes are managed. ARMA previously lobbied Government for many years for a statutory regulatory scheme and, although this was considered by the Labour administration, the coalition Government decided in 2010 not to proceed with the proposals. In response to this the ARMA-Q regime has been formulated.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Kerman & Co has reported that when a tenant causes a nuisance to other tenants or to people nearby, the tenant is obviously the person responsible for the nuisance. However, can the landlord also be held liable since the landlord allowed the tenant to be in the position to create a nuisance in the first place? That was the question before the Supreme Court….
Read the full article here
Wednesday, October 15th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
An article Penningtons Manches looks at the ‘non domestic’/commercial proposed consultation on the regulations for minimum energy performance (now called minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES)) Properties with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of F or G will be unlettable until works improving the property’s energy efficiency are carried out.
Read the full article here
Monday, August 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
Deloittes has questioned whether the modifications relating to environmental sustainability in the recent (3rd) edition of the Service Charge Code will help to drive change? Whilst there have not been any fundamental changes, some additional guidance has been provided specifically around green leases, Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), improving environmental performance and Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s). I would argue that the updates can only be regarded as a good thing for commercial property.
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Thursday, July 31st, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
HM Revenue & Customs has finally confirmed that the surrender of a lease subject to tenancies can constitute a “transfer of a going concern” with the result that no VAT is payable. This will result in stamp duty land tax(SDLT) savings for landlords accepting surrenders and in certain cases it will be possible to reclaim SDLT that has been overpaid on historic surrenders.
Friday, July 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Phil Taylor has highlighted an interesting recent service charge question arising in the case of Daejan Properties Ltd v Griffin & Anor. If a property suffers a structural failure, due to lack of repair, can tenants claim that reduced service charges should only be paid on the assumption that the repairs had been carried out?
Read the full article here
Friday, June 27th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, News
Travers Smith has reported that Martin Retail Group Ltd v Crawley Borough Council is the first case in which the Courts have applied competition law principles to tenant mix policies. The Court decided that restricting the use of a shop to a newsagent and for the sale of books, toys, CDs, fancy goods and greeting cards made it part of a “letting scheme” which prevented the tenants on a shopping parade from competing with each other, and was unlawful.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, June 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
In his ‘Tip of the Week, David Wells of DAC Beachcroft reports that the recent case of Friends Life Management Services Limited and A&A Express Building Limited reinforces the point that a landlord either has to spend monies it receives by way of service charge within the service charge year a lease terminates or return it to the tenant.
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Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Dominic Cunliffe of Macfarlanes notes that, unless the lease makes express provision to the contrary, a tenant will not be able to recover from its landlord any prepaid rent or other sums, which relate to the period after a break date.
Read the full article here
