Legal

An investigation by the National Crime Agency has resulted in the recovery of £4.3 million from two property developer brothers with a 30 year career in the business. The proceeds ...
Read More

A recent court decision has concluded that the Party Wall etc Act 1996 did not apply because a Notice under the Act was not served on a neighbour. So how ...
Read More

A staggering 30,000 female private property renters in the UK have been offered a rent-free home in return for sex for rent - sexual favours - in just the last ...
Read More

Going on to your neighbour's land is sometimes necessary to carry out essential repairs to your property. Consequently, the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992, provides for this with a ...
Read More

The Building Safety Act, which overhauls building safety regulation after the Grenfell Tower fire, came into effect on 28th April 2022 and includes some changes that apply to all new ...
Read More

The government has now introduced its Homes for Ukraine scheme, under which sponsors are paid directly by the government for housing a Ukrainian family escaping the horrors of their war-torn ...
Read More

A few inconsistencies were all it took for a property owner to prevent the fraudulent sale of her home. It was only when the freeholder of her property told a ...
Read More

A High Court battle is underway between a widow and her son, her daughter and two stepchildren. Her husband, Patrick Seale, was a correspondent for The Observer and a renowned ...
Read More

A conveyancing firm with the ambition to 'simplify moving' has left property purchasers uninformed or abandoned. A cyber security incident has been blamed for property deals breaking down, leaving some ...
Read More

A ruling on the unjustifiable invasion of privacy could have implications for home security devices across the country. As an audio-visual technician, Jon Woodard knew what he was doing when ...
Read More

Lloyds Banking Group is being taken to the High Court by 150 home owners later this year. The properties were all mortgaged under the bank’s ‘shared appreciation mortgage’ deal, which allowed ...
Read More

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has reproached a firm of solicitors in Bradford, Yorkshire, for failing to carry out proper checks on the prospective seller of a property who turned out ...
Read More

In Cherwell Development Watch Alliance v Cherwell District Council & Anor [2021] EWHC 2190, the High Court ruling on 30th July has dashed all hopes of preventing the building of 4,400 ...
Read More

The National Crime Agency has expressed concerns over the use of cryptocurrency to purchase assets including property in the UK. Cryptocurrency can be used to covertly move funds between people ...
Read More

Is the Law Society helping to increase conveyancing fees? The Law Society, in conjunction with InfoTrack and Perfect Portal, has announced the introduction of a new pilot scheme designed to ...
Read More

The chairman of the Parliamentary Housing Committee says house builders should be forced to let home owners know when systematic defects might affect their new property. Clive Betts MP said some ...
Read More

A long-awaited reform of property law in England has been announced by the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, including leasehold reform with new rights and protections for leaseholders in England. Properties ...
Read More

Magistrates in Salisbury have cleared a builder of health and safety breaches, after a gas explosion at the property on which his company worked. The block of flats was partly ...
Read More

The inquiry that follows the June 2017 fire, in which 72 people died at the Grenfell Tower in West London, has highlighted some of the shocking tactics of the management ...
Read More

Despite never having been convicted of a crime, a Leeds businessman has handed over 45 properties, and the Poundland brand name, to the National Crime Agency (NCA). The properties handed ...
Read More

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it is investigating four of the UK's largest housebuilders, following what it described as 'troubling evidence' over their methods of selling ...
Read More

Sanjiv Varma, who claimed to be a consultant to developer, Grosvenor Property Developers Ltd, has been found guilty of contempt in the High Court for failing to disclose assets and ...
Read More

The case against 'No DSS' stipulations stepped up a notch when two mothers recently won out of court settlements against two letting agents. A judge in York County Court ruled ...
Read More

Tenants of properties in Stoke on Trent have accused a solar panel company of mis-selling by making Erroneous Transfers. The company worked with the City Council offering free panels with ...
Read More

Three multi-million homes in London has been seized as part of the National Crime Agency's Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) powers, or so-called 'McMafia law'. The properties in Hampstead, Chelsea, and ...
Read More

The Court of Appeal has rejected Zamira Hajiyeva's appeal against the UK's first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO), meaning she must now reveal the source of her wealth. She has been ...
Read More

The three price-fixing estate agent cartels that colluded to fix fees for letting and selling properties have now been broken up by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Price-fixing results ...
Read More

The Treasury has pledged to be working on the removal of barriers to cheaper deals that have trapped 'mortgage prisoners'. However, 150,000 people under the banner 'UK Mortgage Prisoner Action ...
Read More

In Sequent Nominees Ltd v Hautford Ltd [2019] the Supreme Court justices have ruled that a freeholder was entitled to withhold consent from a leaseholder who wished to apply for ...
Read More

A Nottingham couple have become embroiled in a dispute with their local council over a breach of planning regulations by building in their back garden. Ishitaq Ahmed and his wife ...
Read More

A homeowner in Pembroke has complained about her discovery of several restrictive covenants on her property, although she wasn't informed about them when she bought the new build property, even ...
Read More

The neighbouring properties of 141 and 141A Dunstans Road in East Dulwich, London, originally formed a single double fronted Victorian home. In October 1983, the home's owner split the property ...
Read More

A landlord has installed a locked cover over the Nest thermostat of the shared house she owns in Ealing, London. The move means that hot water and central heating settings ...
Read More

Properties and land are often sold if there is a potential for increased value with an overage agreement. Case law has recently addressed the clause that is often used: “detailed ...
Read More

The highest penalty ever imposed for a planning offence in central London has been given to a landlord prosecuted by Westminster City Council, who divided his home into flats without ...
Read More

The House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee has conducted an extensive inquiry into leasehold reform.  This month (July 2019) the government published its response. It seems ...
Read More

Four Berkshire estate agents stand accused by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of forming a 'price fixing cartel', exchanging information and fixing commission for their own financial gain. The ...
Read More

The Competition and Markets Authority has at long last opened an investigation into the practices of the leasehold property market. The investigation launched on 11th June 2019 follows years of ...
Read More

In Wells v Devani [2019], estate agent Mr Devani claimed that commission was payable to him by the vendor, Mr Wells, on completion of the sale of his flats to ...
Read More

Landlords of private rented property will soon need to ensure that the electrics in their properties are checked to ensure they are as safe as they ought to be, under ...
Read More

Reading Crown Court has sentenced a Langley landlord to a suspended prison term and ordered him to pay over £300,000 for costs and compensation. Talwinder Singh built a block of ...
Read More

A crisis on a scale compared to the recent PPI scandal has left home owners and MPs alike wanting answers, as new home owners are being lumbered with annual charges ...
Read More

A pub landlady in Stepney, East London has won a landmark victory to prevent people who will live in an unbuilt development from complaining in the future about noise pollution ...
Read More

Property owners of the multi-million pound Neo Bankside flats next door to the Tate Modern's £260 million Switch House Building in London have lost their privacy case at the High ...
Read More

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened investigations into suspected fraud related to three major property developments. Angelgate, Manchester £77 million Pinnacle Angelgate in Manchester was developed by Pinnacle (Angelgate) ...
Read More

Manchester Crown Court has sentenced a conveyancing solicitor to seven years in prison after finding him guilty of three offences of money laundering over a period of five years, up ...
Read More

A new private members bill has been passed in the Commons, enabling tenants to take legal action if their private or social rented home does not meet the minimum standards ...
Read More

What is Party Wall Work? The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 introduced a procedure for the resolution of disputes between owners of neighbouring properties, arising as a result of one ...
Read More

In Moore v National Westminster Bank Plc the High Court upheld an award of damages awarded for breach of contract by the lender when it failed to arrange a Home Buyers Report ...
Read More

Barclays Bank has reignited the debate on unfair leasehold practices, after refusing to lend against a high profile development in Stratford, in the London Borough of Newham. The main cause ...
Read More

In September 2010, Mr and Mrs McHugh sold the home they had built for themselves between November 2004 and December 2007. During the build, the couple lived in another property ...
Read More

Business Property Relief is currently denied to businesses that ‘consist wholly or mainly of dealing with securities, stocks or shares, land or buildings, or making or holding investments’, including property ...
Read More

In a legal challenge by her former husband, the Supreme Court has ruled that an ex-wife cannot force her divorced husband to increase the amount of maintenance payments simply because ...
Read More

Conjoined Appeal in Court of Appeal on Fraudulent Sale of Properties: P&P Property Ltd v Owen White & Catlin LLP ; Dreamvar (UK) Limited v Mishcon de Reya; An Important ...
Read More

The terrifying prospect of finding an intruder in your home is fortunately something few of us have to deal with. But with the news this month that 78 year old ...
Read More

The Localism Act 2011 gave councils the power to restrict access to social housing. Since the law change became effective, the total number of households on waiting lists in England ...
Read More

A recent legal case has highlighted the practices of thousands of letting agents and landlords that discriminate against tenants, in particular women. The case, brought to the county court by ...
Read More

In 2016, 98% of flats were purchased 'leasehold' - giving the purchaser ownership of the property for a fixed number of years during which they pay ground rent to the ...
Read More

The cost of boundary disputes was highlighted recently in the well publicised case of the London family who lost their £600k home of 31 years to their neighbours, after losing ...
Read More

In our article ‘why do we need new homes?’ we identified tax evasion over business rates and council tax by landlords as one of the problems contributing to the current ...
Read More

Spring 2018 brings with it changes to Government legislation on Houses of Multiple Occupation and Energy Performance Certificates in rented accommodation. HMO Legislation changes The Government is proposing changes to ...
Read More

Environmental campaigner, Emily Shirley, has brought a legal challenge over Canterbury’s adoption of its Local Plan, claiming that the city did not properly consider the impact on air pollution of ...
Read More

In an attempt to further address the estimated £24 billion a year 'generated' by organised crime, the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations ...
Read More

In January 2016, Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh made the news headlines when Storm Gertrude brought nine tons of bricks falling to the ground.  The shocking collapse identified significant defects and a ...
Read More

On 20th August this year, while working away from his home in Luton, the Rev Mike Hall was alerted by a neighbour that someone was in his house. He drove ...
Read More