Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
We reported earlier that, in the case of Daejan Investments Ltd v Benson, the Court of Appeal had denied a landlord dispensation from observing service charge consultation requirements. He had failed to comply with all stages of the requirements by not providing the tenants with a summary of observations on the estimates and a notice of where they would be available for inspection. However, Chris George, of Shoosmiths, has reported that these findings have been reversed by the Supreme Court.
Read the full article here
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Emma Lunn reports in This is Money that many people with landlord insurance may be disappointed to find that unpaid rent isn’t covered. In most cases it only reimburses lost rent for periods when a property is uninhabitable because of another insured event such as a fire. Therefore landlords need specialist rent guarantee protection but there are many caveats.
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Friday, April 19th, 2013 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In Manches News & Publications it is pointed out that tenants who have exercised a break right often object to paying a whole quarter’s rent for a period of time that extends beyond the break date, where that date occurs mid-quarter. However, they should be far more concerned about the alternative scenario, namely remaining on the hook for the rent and all the other lease obligations for the rest of the term, as a result of trying to save relatively small amounts of money.
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Monday, April 15th, 2013 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News
In an article by Clyde & Co, the recent case of ANSA Logistics Ltd v Towerberg Ltd considered a common tenant’s covenant: “Not to assign, underlet or part with
possession of the demised premises or any part thereof without the previous
consent of the landlord, which consent shall not be reasonably withheld.”
ANSA approached the landlord in November 2011 to
ask for consent to underlet but the landlord refused. The landlord
also served a notice on ANSA forfeiting the lease for breach of
the alienation covenant. ANSA applied to the High Court for a
declaration, and the Court considered two questions:
–– Had ANSA parted with possession; and
––Was it reasonable for the landlord to withhold consent?
Firstly the Court decided that ANSA had not parted with
possession and so had not breached the covenant.
The landlord then gave a further reason for withholding
consent concerning Ford’s financial standing. The
Court found this to be unreasonable as only 11% of companies had a lower risk of failure at that time.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Camden Council leaseholder tenants may not have been charged for service charge works carried out via district (housing) management committee’s since at least 2001.
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Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Russell-Cooke has highlighted a recent court case that could cause turmoil for those who manage residential service charge property
It is well known that landlords of residential properties are required to consult with lessees prior to committing to works where expenditure would result in any lessee paying more than £250 and the common understanding was that low cost, low key works did not require prior consultation. In an attempt to avoid what was sometimes perceived as being the tiresome, time consuming and costly exercise of consulting, landlords would sometimes split the cost into separate projects, each of which would be low enough not to trigger the consultation requirements. However, in the case of Phillips v Francis, it was decided that works should not be split, but treated collectively over the service charge year. However the small print of the decision needs to be examined……………
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Wednesday, February 13th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
The recent Court of Appeal case of Campbell v Daejan Properties Limited [2012] EWCA Civ 1503 has served as an important reminder to landlords that there is not a presumption that they should receive full recovery of their maintenance and repair costs from a tenant through the service charge.
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Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
A recent article by Sophie Wilkinson and Nathan Rees of Shoosmiths reports on The Green Deal, which is a government-backed funding mechanism for making energy efficiency improvements to property. For finance under the scheme to be available, energy efficiency improvements need to pay for themselves through resulting savings on gas and electricity bills. Both landlords and tenants can take out Green Deal finance. Landlords may benefit from improved value and marketability (from the perception that the property is more energy efficient), whilst tenants should benefit from lower bills. However, there are a number of issues which landlords/investors, in particular, will need to consider.
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
It was reported in Inside Housing that rules relating to service charges were rewritten ahead of the publication of universal credit regulations this week, over fears that tenants and landlords would be unable to claim benefit for up to 13 charges. Draft regulations for the new universal credit, which replaces a host of income-related benefits from next October, were published in the summer listing just three categories of eligible charges. The new draft includes four categories of payments, including payments for the up-keep of communal areas, to maintain a good standard of accommodation, for communal services and for ‘accommodation-specific charges’. The DWP will publish guidance in the next few weeks setting out exactly what charges will be eligible.
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
A question was raised in The Landlord Law Newsletter about the effect of a section 21 notice, where the tenants vacates prior to the termination date. Are the tenants required to inform the landlord that they are leaving the property? Strictly speaking tenants ought to give notice regarding the date they intend to vacate, but if the landlord actually wants them to leave, bearing in mind that the tenants are entitled to make a landlord pay to get a court order for eviction (which could take up to six months during which period tenants often stop paying rent), the landlord just ought to be grateful that they have gone. However, the landlord may be entitled to claim rent in lieu of notice, but it may be more trouble than it is worth to do this.
read the full article here
