April 2016 #340 – Law Journals

Proportionality: Using a sledgehammer

Paul Kent and Sally Coleman explore a decision that underscores the need for proportionality in choosing the correct planning enforcement procedure ‘The court was scathing in its view of the action taken by the authority, finding on all four counts of alleged breach that the application was either “disproportionate”, “oppressive”, or both.’ Unnecessary, disproportionate and …

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Construction Focus: One and the same

John Starr analyses the current position on payment notices ‘The TCC has now confirmed what many commentators had already suspected, namely that there is, in effect, no difference between a payment notice and a pay less notice.’Towards the end of 2015, in PLJ335 (‘Clarity in all things’, October 2015, p26) I spoke about the case …

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Beneficial Interests: Defeating creditors: a how (not) to guide

Rupert Higgins considers some cases highlighting the problems with hastily created declarations of trust ‘A guide to defeating creditors is long overdue. So here, too late for Mrs Rahman but for the benefit of readers, is a bluffers’ guide to bluffing.’ As controversial political figures go, it would be hard to find a candidate in …

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Environment: Establishing harm

A recent ICO decision provides pointers on when a contract will be viewed as containing non-disclosable environmental information, as Mark Bassett explains ‘A more successful argument in such cases may well be that although each project is almost by definition “bespoke” (as all complex engineering projects are), there is enough commonality between schemes that the …

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Squatters: England or Scotland?

Philip Knight, Helena Davies and Velida Pudic assess the different systems for recovering possession in the two jurisdictions ‘Depending on the location, serving can be onerous. Where there are several trespassers, serving in several ways is often the safest course of action.’Many property portfolios have vacant units from time to time: empty buildings awaiting redevelopment …

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Planning Update: Going underground

Rachael Herbert unravels some of the mystery surrounding planning considerations for basement developments ‘The “enlarged part of the dwelling house” referred only to the development that is being added by way of permitted development rights, not all of the storeys in the dwelling house post-completion of the new (basement) development.’ There are few areas of …

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Rights To Light: A final resolution of the injunction debate?

James Souter reviews a case highlighting the importance of conduct of the parties when considering whether an injunction or damages is the most appropriate remedy ‘The well-advised developer will seek to ensure they can show the court they have behaved reasonably should they find themselves in front of a judge.’The development industry will be watching …

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