News & Publications
Long leases and Air BnB
November 2nd, 2016
Given the rise of short-term lets, particularly as a result of the growing popularity of platforms such as AirBnB, the judgment of HHJ Stuart Brigg in Nemcova v Fairfield Rents Limited [2016] UKUT 303 (LC) is one of some interest. The facts of this dispute were fairly straightforward. The tenant had admitted to letting her […]
To whom does art belong?
January 13th, 2016
There is an age old question that remains unanswered: does art belong to the artist who created it; to the person who has bought it; or to everyone? In the matter of The Creative Foundation v Dreamland Leisure Limited and others [2015], the High Court had to answer a similar – although not quite as […]
Fraud unravels all – a comment on the decisions by the Supreme Court in Sharland and Gohil
October 16th, 2015
Beware! The Courts are now clamping down on those who give fraudulent or dishonest evidence or non-disclosure on a financial settlement between parties in divorce. The Supreme Court gave two judgements on the 14th October 2015 about re-opening divorce settlements on the grounds of fraudulent non-disclosure. The two cases involved the husbands supplying information that […]
Renewal commissions in letting agreements
September 17th, 2015
A recap on the decision in OFT v Foxtons Ltd. Back in 2009, the Office of Fair Trading brought an action against Foxtons in respect of various provisions in the terms and conditions for their letting-only service relating to the payment of commissions. Specifically, the OFT sought a declaration that these terms (payment of renewal […]
Good news for landlords
September 12th, 2015
A comment on the decision in Chaplair v Kumrai [2015] EWCA Civ 798. In the last article that was posted on the subject of collection of service charge arrears, it was suggested that it is becoming somewhat difficult to recover the costs of proceedings instigated to recover service charge arrears when a claim is allocated […]
Collection of Service Charge arrears
September 5th, 2015
Recovery of costs in the Small Claims Court. A very popular method of collecting service charge arrears is for a landlord to issue a claim in the County Court for damages. On many occasions, the leaseholder will not respond and so a judgment in default is obtained. This can be relied on as a determination […]
Another unmarried couple in the Court of Appeal
June 21st, 2015
O’Kelly v Davies (2014) EVCA Civ 1606 This case concerned a property in Sketty Swansea owned in the sole name of Ms O’Kelly. Her former partner, Mr Davies, applied to the court for a declaration that he had an equal share in the property. He did not ask for the sale of the property because […]