Legal News

The Upper Tribunal (UT) has upheld a homeowner's appeal against a decision that he had not acquired a right of way over part of a driveway belonging to one of his neighbours. The row of houses in which the man and his neighbour lived had originally been...

The High Court recently upheld a claim that an elderly man's final will was invalid on the grounds that he lacked testamentary capacity. The man and his wife had made mirror wills in 1985. After their eldest son sadly died in 2007, they made new mirror...

A homeowner has successfully argued before the Upper Tribunal (UT) that an application by the owner of adjoining land to modify a restrictive covenant should be refused . A small cottage had originally stood on the adjoining land, but had been badly...

A man who let a house to a company which in turn let rooms in it to tenants has succeeded in his appeal against a rent repayment order after the Upper Tribunal (UT) concluded that he was not the tenants' immediate landlord and therefore no such order could...

The High Court has recently ruled that a man is entitled to benefit under a family trust despite finding that he was not the biological child of the settlor. The trust had been set up by a businessman in 2003 and included as its beneficiaries 'the...

When prospective tenants are asked to pay a holding deposit, they should ensure that they disclose any information that might affect a landlord's decision whether to offer them a tenancy. Recently, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) dealt with an application for...

Can a local housing authority serve an improvement notice under Section 12 of the Housing Act 2004 in respect of a hazard that may or may not exist? This question was raised in a landlord's recent appeal to the Upper Tribunal (UT). The landlord had been...

The High Court has ruled that a businessman's final will, which left most of his estate to his two youngest children and largely disinherited his two eldest children, was invalid. The businessman had been diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2010. Before making...

A woman and her ex-husband who allegedly lost substantial funds belonging to the woman's mother have been ordered by a judge to pay back the missing money. After the mother died in 2019, at the age of 86, the woman's sister brought proceedings in an effort...

Tenants who feel that they are being overcharged for services in connection with their properties are able to challenge the reasonableness of their charges. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) recently reduced the amount a tenant was required to pay for insurance...

When incurring costs in respect of a property, landlords should consider at an early stage whether these will be recoverable through the tenants' service charges. A right to manage (RTM) company recently failed to persuade the Upper Tribunal (UT) that legal...

The will of a man who married his carer less than a year before he died and left everything to her has been set aside after his daughter challenged its validity. The man was 93 years old when he married his carer, who was then aged 54. Following the...

The Upper Tribunal (UT) recently ruled on an appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that a sign saying there was no public right of way over a staircase did not prevent a private right of way being acquired over it. The staircase had...

The Upper Tribunal (UT) has granted a social housing provider's application to modify a restrictive covenant so as to allow it to proceed with a residential property development. The relevant land was sold in 1975 subject to a conveyance limiting its use...

An allegation that a will is a forgery can be hard to prove. However, such an allegation was successfully made out in a High Court case concerning an elderly man who died during the COVID-19 pandemic. The man had passed away in February 2021. A firm of...