Recession tends to bring the Courts an increasing number of cases generated by insolvency. The Court of Appeal has recently considered the effects of a disclaimer of a Lease by a Liquidator and its effect on a guarantee under an Authorised Guarantee Agreement (AGA) given on an Assignment by the original Tenant. The Court held that the AGA Guarantor remained liable even though the Landlord had a right to ask the AGA Guarantor to take a new Lease and where the Landlord had decided not to bother.
Removal of a row of conifers and a willow tree prior to development of a detached house near Huntingdon Cambridgeshire caused the underlying ground to absorb water and expand. As the foundation design was inadequate, cracks started to appear and the owners brought claims for breach of contract and under the Defective Premises Act 1972, to recover the cost of underpinning works
As mentioned previously on this site, when the Heritage Protection Bill was abandoned, Government nonetheless gave a commitment to continue the reform of Heritage legislation. The Bill followed the Heritage Protection Review led by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and by English Heritage. Some have suggested the Bill was dropped because a relatively light legislative programme might favour an early general election and the Bill was an early casualty.
The insurance repercussions of a fire in Manchester in September 2005 have recently been considered by the Court of Appeal. A property owner appealed an earlier High Court finding that turning off sprinklers and not ensuring a water supply (cut off because the Tenant had failed to pay water charges) coupled with storing items other than those mentioned on the proposal form, entitled the insurer to avoid meeting the owner’s claim under the insurance policy.
West Devon Borough Council has found itself on the receiving end of an award for costs where it continued with town and country planning enforcement proceedings in the face of a compromise put to the Council by the affected land owner.
The High Court has recently confirmed that rights of adverse possession cannot be claimed over land that forms part of the public highway and provided a clear decision on an issue not conclusively determined before.
Sales of leasehold property may be subject to obtaining the Landlord’s consent for the assignment of the Lease. This will invariably be the case when the sale is by auction. If Landlords seek extra security from the Assignee (Buyer), which is then challenged, this can frustrate the sale and put the Seller and Buyer at loggerheads. It might well exhaust a specified period set by the underlying Contact or Auction Conditions during which the Landlord’s consent is to be obtained.
A tenant of ground floor premises has successfully challenged a local planning authority’s non-withdrawal of a Planning Repairs Notice served on the freeholder and all occupants but in respect of deterioration to the first, second and third floors of the building in question.
In separate cases, MacCulloch v Imperial Chemical Industries plc and Loxley v BAE Systems Land Systems (Munitions and Ordnance) Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal holds that two different employment tribunals had failed to carry out proper assessments of whether direct age discrimination in contractual redundancy schemes was objectively justified.
Cinemas, Restaurants and Care Homes On 29 January 2009 HMRC issued a Background Note and Practice Note setting out details of the manner in which they were proposing to apportion the price paid for the sale of a business as a going concern between goodwill and other assets included in the sale.
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