March 2011 #266 – Law Journals

Empty Business Rates: Lowering the threshold

With the threshold for business rate relief to be significantly reduced as of April this year, Sue Boyall assesses the options for mitigating liability ‘Tenants should remember that until such time as their lease is terminated, or until they have found an acceptable assignee or under-tenant, they may remain liable for empty rates under their …

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Case Study: The never-ending tenancy: part 2

Alasdair Thomas reviews the findings on appeal of a case involving a business tenant who, by acquiring a part of the freehold reversion to its lease, was able to prevent the other freeholders from terminating the lease ‘It seems most unlikely that those responsible for drafting s44(1A) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 envisaged …

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Landlord And Tenant Update: PACT relaunched

Richard Webber looks at the re-launch of PACT and asks whether landlords and tenants who are renewing their business leases should take advantage of it more often ‘PACT tends to work best where the parties have narrowed the issues between them and seek, collaboratively, to resolve them by reference to a third party.’PACT (Professional Arbitration …

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Back To Basics: Vacant possession and rent review

Keith Shaw reports on the importance of vacant possession in rent review situations, and warns of the potential pitfalls ‘The rent review hypothesis assumes, as at the review date, that the lease including the rent review clause does not exist. Logically, therefore, any occupation by a tenant in possession has to be disregarded, and it …

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Construction Focus: Lost opportunities

When is it unreasonable to reject mediation, and what are the consequences of doing so? John Starr investigates ‘A successful party may be faced with the possibility of being refused an order for payment of their costs by the unsuccessful party for having unreasonably failed to mediate.’The recent case of Rolf v De Guerin [2011] …

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Contract: Deeds that go undelivered

A recent decision has clarified the law relating to the execution of deeds and highlighted some pitfalls that the parties to settlement agreements need to be mindful of, as Richard Bartle and Keith Shaw find out ‘Most practitioners are well aware of the difficulty of proving that ‘unconscionable’ behaviour actually has occurred, although that doesn’t …

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