Unopposed lease renewals: More haste less speed?

Ed Cracknell reviews the pilot scheme in the Central London County Court which has been running since the beginning of the year ‘Where court directions are complied with, the traditional adversarial court process – disclosure of documents, exchange of witness statements and expert reports – that works so well for, say, a commercial dispute is …
This post is only available to members.

HM Land Registry: Digital awakening

Richard Oliphant outlines HM Land Registry‘s new digital services that pave the way for conveyancing transactions and registration to be carried out entirely online ‘The security of the Land Registry‘s network and the Verify service is fundamental to winning users‘ trust; if conveyancers (and their customers) do not have trust in the Land Registry‘s new …
This post is only available to members.

Housing crisis: The draft NPPF – a lasting solution or a temporary fix?

Jacqueline Backhaus and Jasmine Ratta report on the impact of the recent proposed changes to the draft NPPF ‘There is a central theme of transparency and standardising the process, and a concerted effort to encourage viability appraisals at the plan-making, rather than decision-making, stage.‘ Fourteen years on from the publication of the Barker Review of …
This post is only available to members.

Rights to light: Continue but with compensation

Andrew Ross and Sarah Quy examine the background to rights to light and how a development can proceed where such rights exist ‘The courts and planning authorities are increasingly recognising in their decision-making that the balance is shifting from the protection of private rights towards the promotion of development which is perceived to be in …
This post is only available to members.

Construction focus: The end of smash and grab?

Can an employer who fails to serve a payment or pay less notice still bring a second adjudication to determine the value of the relevant work, even where it has paid the amount stated in the interim application? John Starr investigates ‘It was not controversial that, if an employer served a payment notice or a …
This post is only available to members.

Residential property: Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards reviewed

Helen Pickard focuses on the MEES in relation to residential property ‘It is not enough for a landlord to simply consider that they fall within an exemption. The exemption must be registered before granting the tenancy, or before 1 April 2020 in relation to any ongoing lettings of substandard property, or the landlord may face …
This post is only available to members.

Planning update: The Planning Act – ten years on

Katie Scuoler considers how the scope of the NSIP regime has evolved and examines the role that it could play in delivering large-scale developments ‘The garden communities which are coming forward are being promoted by local authorities, and will be built out by local authorities, or with support from private sector developers and/or landowners. There …
This post is only available to members.