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John Starr reviews some recent guidance on the issue of bias in arbitration proceedings ‘The common law test of bias assumes the existence of an impartial observer, a bit like “the reasonable man” in cases of negligence or “the man on the Clapham omnibus” – someone to help with a problem that requires to be …
Continue reading "Construction Focus: Justifiable doubts and the fair-minded observer"
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The Court of Appeal recently held that a contract will only be corrected if there is an obvious error, as Camilla Askaroff writes ‘The facts in Bashir [2011] were unusual: neither party had inspected the property before the sale. The property was sold at auction. The seller was an executor and the buyer was an …
Continue reading "Sale By Auction: Room for mistake"
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Kathleen Fitzgerald and Victoria Leam assess who ultimately pays for damage caused by civil unrest ‘Proprietors may find that, as a result of the riot, they are unable to restore their property due to being under-insured or not insured at all. In such cases there may be scope to revert to an application for compensation …
Continue reading "Civil Unrest: Reading the Riot Act"
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Bryan Johnston analyses a judgment with implications for valuers, investors and funders ‘It is one of the first big commercial valuation negligence cases since the downturn. The question then is whether it represents a one-off or whether it is the start of a professional negligence trend.’ The High Court has handed down judgment in Capita …
Continue reading "Valuation And Professional Negligence: Overstating the case"
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Shanna Smith reviews two Court of Appeal decisions which appear to have put another nail in the coffin of such schemes ‘Many tenants devised their own ways to protect their financial position, including failing to pay their final month’s rent thereby forcing the landlord to use the deposit to make up the shortfall.’Picture the scenario: …
Continue reading "Landlord And Tenant Update: Tenancy deposit schemes"
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Amanda Gourlay discusses a case that brings some clarity to an opaque issue ‘The key distinction between the “old” and “new” s81 is the requirement for a “final determination” of the amount of service charge payable.’Section 81 of the Housing Act 1996 prevents a landlord from exercising a right to forfeit on the grounds of …
Continue reading "Service Charges And S81 Housing Act 1996: Default judgments and final determinations"
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Michael Higgin considers the implications of a case that has found plasterwork applied to walls and ceilings to be structural ‘The introduction of modern building techniques means that we should be cautious to extrapolate anything rigidly from the legal analysis of traditional methods of construction, but should also weigh up the circumstances.’The recent case of …
Continue reading "Leases: Plasterwork is part of the structure"
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Heath Marshall provides an update of the extent to which the Regulations are relevant to land agreements ‘The Regulations relate to contracts between a seller or supplier, and a consumer for the supply of goods or services, and deal with contractual terms that are deemed to be “unfair” by virtue of the Regulations.’In my previous …
Continue reading "Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999: Where are we now?"
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Charlie Bending and Robert Jones look at the outcome of the decision in Scullion, which will be welcomed by surveyors and valuers alike ‘The first instance decision in Scullion had been viewed by many as opening the floodgates to a rush of claims from a new category of claimant.’The recent decision in the case of …
Continue reading "Professional Negligence: High water marks and some respite for surveyors"
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Kirstin Bardel reviews some of the key modifications to the Construction Act, due to come into force imminently ‘Before 1 October it will be very important for clients to make sure that they, and their teams, understand the new regime of notices and that their contracts comply with the new law.’Changes to the Construction Act …
Continue reading "The Construction Act 1996: New rules on contracts and appointments"
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