Legal News

Landowners intent on developing their properties can find it intensely annoying when neighbours resist their plans. However, as a High Court ruling made plain, the right to object to planning applications is one of the benefits of living in a democratic...

To what extent should landlords who have breached fire safety rules be entitled to recover the costs of remedying such breaches from tenants by way of service charges? The Upper Tribunal (UT) considered that important issue in a case concerning a former...

People may be blinkered, difficult and downright ruthless but that does not mean that they are incapable of making a rational will. The High Court made that point in the case of a highly successful businessman who all but disinherited his children. By his...

Restrictions on the use to which properties can be put are often to be found in their title deeds and, in some cases, can have a dramatic impact on their value. A High Court case on point concerned the future of a further education college that was already...

Many householders are familiar with the often traumatic experience of falling out with builders. However, as a High Court case showed , if their work is not up to scratch or left unfinished, lawyers will bend every sinew to ensure that fair compensation is...

Light pollution generated by hi-tech digital advertising displays can be a source of bitter complaint. However, such concerns were insufficient to persuade the High Court to overturn permission granted for the inclusion of one such display in a proposed...

There is a big difference between moral and legal obligations. The High Court made that point in finding that mirror wills signed by a married couple did not impose on either of them a binding obligation not to change their bequests in future, save by...

Residential landlords who neglect their legal obligations to the point of criminality can be hit with banning orders that are likely to put them out of business. In a case of importance to property professionals, the Upper Tribunal (UT) for the first time...

It is quite common for people to get married in the knowledge that they only have a short while to live. However, as a High Court ruling underlined , such a step is often fraught with legal difficulty in terms of inheritance and should never be taken...

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the restructuring of numerous businesses and that can mean commercial landlords having to take severe financial haircuts. That was certainly so in the case of a once successful chain of gyms whose business was devastated...

Even if you do not hold legal title to a plot of land, you may well be entitled to have it transferred into your name if you have been in adverse possession of it for over 10 years and you have reasonably believed throughout that it belongs to you. That is ...

A commercial landlord may, for any number of reasons, be keen to see the back of a tenant. However, as one case showed, the question of whether a business tenancy should be renewed can in the end come down to an exercise of judicial discretion. A company's...

Making a valid will requires an exercise of independent decision-making, free from the undue influence of others. The High Court powerfully made that point in finding that a daughter coerced her ailing mother into bequeathing everything to her. The mother...

When a property is registered as an asset of community value (ACV) under the Localism Act 2011 the result can be a major headache for would-be developers. However, as a case concerning the future of a much-loved former golf course showed , overturning...

One good reason why professional conveyancing is always required is that lurking in the title deeds of a great many properties are clauses that may heavily restrict their development or any future use to which they can be put. One such clause came under...