Airspace leases: It’s all up in the air

The Upper Tribunal has handed tenants an important victory concerning ‘common parts’ including roof spaces and airspace leases in leasehold enfranchisement, as Mark Chick finds out ‘The Upper Tribunal looked at a number of points of detail about the distinction between areas that the flat owners do not have access to that could still potentially …
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Rent control: What are the risks?

Alis Pay and Angela Shepherd explore what the impact would be of rent controls in London on the residential investment market, including the nascent build-to-rent sector ‘Some commentators have suggested that the UK could solve its current housing crisis by embracing one of the European-style rental models, which vary but typically include greater protections for …
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Trespass: What are the options?

Annabel Heath outlines the different means available for eviction of squatters in light of a recent ruling ‘A High Court possession claim is often the quickest method of removing the trespassers from the land, simply because the High Court has the judicial resources and infrastructure for dealing with matters swiftly.’ Recently there have been reports …
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The new Telecoms Code: A case update

Danielle Drummond-Brassington, Martin Garner, Rob Wood and Ellie Black review the first group of cases on the new Electronic Communications Code ‘The Upper Tribunal confirmed that the court will take a very strict approach to interpreting statutes that seize private property and that, if there is any ambiguity, the construction used should be the one …
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Planning update: The Rosewell Review

Georgina Reeves examines the main objectives of a recently published review of planning appeal inquiries and how the key recommendations set out in the report seek to achieve those objectives ‘Given the potential costs (such as debt servicing) stemming from substantial delays, some appellants would likely welcome the imposition of appeal fees if it resulted …
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Construction focus: Adjudication – after-the-event fraud

Can fraud that is discovered after adjudication invalidate a decision? John Starr investigates ‘The judge took the view that this was one of those rare adjudication cases where there was a properly arguable defence that the decision was obtained by fraud.’ Those representing parties in adjudication can often come under pressure to allege fraud against …
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Landlord and tenant: A promise is a promise

David Harris considers the outcome of a case involving a mutual enforcement covenant and its implications ‘Landlords are much less likely in the future to agree to a tenant doing something perfectly reasonable and well-intentioned that would technically be in breach of an absolute covenant in the tenant’s lease.’ It cannot be often that the …
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