A man who sold a house after forging certificates for planning permission for works he had carried out but for which planning permission had not been obtained was recently sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. The man had applied on three…
A recent High Court case provided a lesson in medieval land law for those involved, and featured a reputed Lord of the Manor in dispute with his villagers. In 2000, Peter Burton, a retired banker, and his partner Susan Bamford…
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 [1] came into force on 6 April 2012. These made some adjustments to the existing Regulations, in order to take account of the European Commission’s view that the UK had not fully implemented the…
A businessman who had an £850,000 London property sold from under him by a forger whilst he languished in prison in the Middle East has been handed the property back by a judge. The High Court ruled that the purported…
A firm of surveyors which carried out valuations that overstated the value of three properties found itself defending an action for negligence recently. The surveyors had issued valuations on which a mortgage lender had relied when approving loans. The High…
A house owner has been awarded almost £380,000 in damages and interest against a partner in a building firm who fraudulently induced him into entering into a contract for the renovation and extension of his property. The builder had ‘participated…
When a firm of consulting engineers created an ‘egregious delay’ in the commencement of a building project, they found themselves liable for the losses suffered by the landowner as a result. The firm had been appointed to design a road…
The Ministry of Justice has recently confirmed that the law on distress will be abolished. Whilst the law of distress is considered by many to be anachronistic, it has nonetheless proven a very useful tool for commercial landlords over the…
Insolvent tenants can be a major headache for landlords. For example, when a corporate tenant goes into administration, the landlord needs to obtain the consent of the administrator, or of the court, to forfeit the lease. This is because administration…
In these straitened times, it is regrettably not uncommon for a buyer to withdraw from the purchase of a property after a legal agreement to purchase has been completed. When this happens, the vendor may be entitled to claim damages…
