July/August 2016 #343 – Law Journals

Construction Focus: Time for a new privilege?

In the second of two articles focusing on mediation, John Starr considers confidentiality and privilege ‘It is clear that communications that take place in the context of mediation are confidential and the parties will often sign a mediation agreement to that effect.’ In last month’s column, I looked at the question of whether the enthusiasm …

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Surrender: Clarity in word and deed

Rebecca Rees discusses how to avoid a surrender ‘The foundation of surrender by operation of law is the doctrine of estoppel: a party is prevented from later denying the validity of an act which would not have been valid if the lease was continuing.’A lease or tenancy can be surrendered at any time by agreement …

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Conveyancing: Buyer beware

Hardy v Griffiths has lessons for what happens when a buyer fails to complete, as John de Waal QC and Katrina Mather find out ‘The case is a useful reminder of the principles that apply when a buyer who has exchanged contracts changes their mind and decides not to proceed’. William Griffiths QC is a …

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Planning Update: Solar eclipsed?

Katie Scuoler summarises the current state of play for large-scale solar development in the green belt ‘The initial support for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic technology (PV) has begun to cool. The focus of solar PV strategy is increasingly shifting away from large-scale deployment towards mid-size commercial rooftop generation.’ Since the start of 2016, the Secretary of …

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Enfranchisement: Get real

Amy Jackson examines a decision that gives key guidance on how to determine relativity ‘The relative value of the first existing leasehold interest as against the freehold value of the property is expressed as a percentage.’ The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has recently handed down the much awaited decision on three conjoined cases: The Trustees …

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Opinion: The law of unintended consequences

Jonathan Hulley outlines the implications of the proposed Bill of Rights for social landlords ‘The fundamental difficulty with the current plan is that nobody knows which of the rights in the Human Rights Act – derived from the European Convention on Human Rights – would be lost in the changes.’Plans announced in the Queen’s Speech …

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Lease Reservations: Be reasonable

Bryan Johnston, Emma Frost, Katie Paul and Emma Broad report on a case that weighs up the right to carry out works against that of quiet enjoyment and derogation from grant ‘If sufficient rights are not reserved the landlord will not be entitled to undertake the works and there will be no need to consider …

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