There is snow everywhere, so what are your responsibilities? Strictly, as regards anything which happens outside your property (e.g. on the pavement), you have no responsibility – unless you take action to clear the surface, in which case, you could…
The High Court has recently awarded damages of £448,553 (including exemplary damages of £60,000) against a business that absorbed part of its neighbour’s property (a store room) into its own property. The court stated that the misappropriation of the store…
You cannot create a new lease until the old lease has terminated. That was the straightforward message of the Court of Appeal in a case in which a company asserted it had a valid lease over a builder’s yard when…
Taking care over the service of documents is important, if only to prevent an unnecessary appearance in court to determine whether or not a document was properly served. Recently, a construction dispute was dealt with by an arbitrator. In order…
The buyer of a Tudor mansion can proceed with a claim for more than £300,000 for loss of fittings and damage to the property, the High Court ruled recently. An application by the vendor of the property to have the…
A long-running boundary dispute looks to be on course for a hearing in the highest court in the land, despite the legal costs of the case having already greatly exceeded the value of the land under dispute. Ian and…
Developers are warned not to be over-hasty following a surprise court decision. It involved a claim for loss of light in which the developer built a building, presumably confident that the court would award the owner of the building whose…
A vendor who failed to inform an auction buyer of a property of a temporary defect in title can be seen to have committed a grave error as the Court of Appeal allowed the purchaser to rescind the contract…
A recent High Court case has provided a warning to developers to resolve any potential rights of light issues before starting development. In this particular case, the court awarded an injunction against a developer who infringed the rights of light…
On 4 January 2011, the standard rate of VAT will increase from 17.5% to 20%. HM Revenue & Customs has issued guidance on the impact that the increase will have on stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on non-residential leases…
