The government is introducing new laws and a Code of Practice to resolve commercial rent debts accrued because of the pandemic. Commercial tenants are protected from eviction until 25 March 2022. It’s hoped this will provide time for landlords and tenants to negotiate how to share the cost of rent debts. These negotiations will be
Vulnerable tenants struggling to pay their rent are to get government help in a move that will help protect the income of thousands of private landlords. The government is making £65 million available to councils in England to support low-income earners in rent arrears. It will be for councils to determine the best way to
Marks & Spencer has been told to trade in good faith, and not to carry on business half-heartedly, following a dispute with a landlord over the terms of the lease on one of its stores. The court heard that Marks leased a unit within a shopping mall from landlord Sapphire 16. The ground and first
A landlord could not get round the requirement to make a “demand for payment of the service charge” within the 18-month time limit specified in law. That was the ruling of the Court of Appeal in a case involving a landlord that held the head lease of the residential parts of a large mixed-use development.
A local authority had been too quick to fine a landlord for failing to register under a licensing scheme. Instead, it should have followed its own policy of taking informal action as a first step. That was the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in a case involving Ekweozoh v Redbridge LBC. Ms Ekweozoh
A landlord has lost its appeal against a decision that it could not impose service charges for certain works because it had failed to consult tenants properly. The landlord owned several flats let on long leases. It carried out various works to the flats and, in 2017, sought to recover the cost from the lessees
The Court of Appeal has clarified whether external doors are landlords’ fixtures and so subject to landlord control. The case involved a tenant who was the registered proprietor of two long-leasehold flats with terms of 999 years. The leases included a covenant by the tenant at cl.3(4) not to “remove any of the landlord’s fixtures”
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a commercial tenant had correctly exercised a break clause in its lease despite having left the premises “dysfunctional and unoccupiable”. The break clause provided that the tenant could terminate the lease if it gave “vacant possession of the Premises to the Landlord” on the relevant break date. The
A landlord has won a dispute over service charges in a commercial building because the onus was on the tenant to prove they were unfair, and it had failed to do so. The case involved Criterion Buildings Ltd and Mckinsey & Co. Criterion was the landlord of a building comprised of offices, a sportswear store,
The Court of Appeal has ruled that an ‘irrational’ clause in a lease that led to exponential growth in rent increases was an error and should be corrected. The case involved Monsolar IQ Ltd and Woden Park Ltd. Monsolar agreed a 25.5-year lease to create a solar farm on land owned by Woden. The lease