Residential Service Charge Consultation: Normal service resumed?

Douglas Rhodes reviews the Court of Appeal’s decision in Phillips v Francis regarding the extent of a landlord’s obligation to consult its tenants on major works ‘Unless the consultation requirements are complied with, the landlord’s service charges are capped at £250 per dwelling regardless of the overall cost of the works, unless dispensation is applied …
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Rights Of Light: Questions and answers – part 4

In the fourth of his continuing series, Andrew Francis considers how rights of light can be overriden, their abandonment and remedies in case of dispute ‘Ultimately whether there has been abandonment will be a question of evidence and the mere existence of blocked-up apertures is not the end of the story.’ Question 1 How can …
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Planning Update: Planning promotion agreements – part 2

In the second of his two articles, Gavin Le Chat examines the promoter’s obligations and costs, as well as how to protect its share of the proceeds of sale ‘A typical promotion agreement may be more appealing or acceptable to a landowner than an option agreement. It does not usually require the landowner to sell …
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The Aarhus Convention: Private nuisance claims

Andrew Francis explains how the Convention can be invoked to help the weaker party protect its costs in David and Goliath situations ‘The Convention is applicable in the English courts (indirectly as part of the UK’s international obligations) as part of our domestic law.’ Imagine the following chain of events. Canchester is a large cathedral …
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Landlord And Tenant: Holding over… and out

Nerissa Hatcher reports on the complexities that can arise when a tenant decides to hold over at the end of a fixed term in the context of a recent case ‘Where parties are negotiating for the grant of a new written tenancy but the terms are not yet agreed, there will often be a strong …
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Development: The path less travelled

Huseyin Huseyin delves into the issues to be considered when developing out unusual sites ‘Many of the underground services that remain in use today were constructed in the nineteenth century and care must therefore be taken when relying on the plans supplied by statutory bodies.’Any competent developer should be capable of acquiring a greenfield site …
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Construction Focus: Escalating disputes

John Starr summarises a case concerning a dispute adjudication board, where the court required the parties to be bound to their contractually agreed terms for resolving a dispute ‘An agreement to negotiate, even if expressed to be “in good faith”, can properly be regarded as an agreement to agree and therefore unenforceable.’ Construction contracts, like …
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