October 2015 #335 – Law Journals

Interpretation Of Contracts: When words speak louder than actions

A recent Supreme Court ruling took a very literal approach to the interpretation of service charge provisions. Robin Biela assesses the judgment and its implications ‘There is considerable benefit for both landlord and tenant in having a fixed service charge that increases by reference to clear, objective criteria and requires no outside information.’ In Arnold …

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The Deregulation Act 2015: A time for landlords to take action

Charlotte Wormstone and Alice Harris examine those provisions coming into force in October 2015 ‘As of 1 October 2015 there will be many more legislative burdens upon landlords in terms of granting assured shorthold tenancies.’ The Deregulation Act 2015 (the Act) is wide-ranging in scope but does contain rather a significant degree of legislative provisions …

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Construction Focus: Clarity in all things

John Starr outlines a case highlighting the need for unambiguous interim payment applications in order to attract the provisions of the 1996 Construction Act ‘The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) has again reiterated that payment applications must be clear and unambiguous if they are to attract the deeming provisions in the Act.’ In last month’s …

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Planning Case Study: Exempt no more

Jamie Lockerbie and Susanne Andreasen review a decision of the High Court that relates to planning requirements for small sites ‘The purported effect of the affordable housing exemption policy was incompatible with the statutory framework set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA) and …

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Cybercrime And Conveyancing: Safe as houses?

First money laundering, then mortgage fraud, and now conveyancer hacking. Alasdair Urwin and Sandip Singh explain the latest fraud risks of which lenders, borrowers and conveyancers should be aware ‘In what are being described as some of the most worrying scams seen by the SRA, fraudsters are hacking into law firm e-mail accounts and intercepting …

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Opinion: Cause for complaint

When falling service standards in the County Court impact on access to justice then it is time for solicitors to say something, writes Keith Conway ‘Feedback received so far supports the widespread anecdotal evidence of repeated and significant administrative failings, unacceptable delays and clients losing faith in the civil justice system.’The 1,200 members of the …

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Collective Enfranchisement: A Snowball effect?

Natasha Rees considers a case where precarious rights in leases and the test of the equivalence as set out in the 1993 Act came under the spotlight ‘If the freeholder offers in the counter-notice rights which satisfy the test of equivalence in s1(4)(a), there will be no right to acquire the freehold of the additional …

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Planning And Environment Update: Affordable housing

Rebecca Mushing provides an update on recent developments in affordable housing and questions their long-term implications ‘The practical and legal flaws of introducing blanket exemptions on a national basis were exposed by the councils in this case.’ The past couple of months have seen big changes for affordable housing. Firstly the extension to the right …

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