When is a commercial lease surrendered? The question may appear straightforward but as the tenant found out in the recent case of Padwick Properties Limited v Punj Lloyd Limited the answer is not always as simple as it seems. The landlord granted a 21 year lease of an office block to the tenant company. The […]

The years 2015-16 saw quite a raft of increases to court fees, making the life of would-be claimants considerable more expensive. From April 2015, the cost to issue claims of £10,000 or more was raised to 5% of the claimed sum, dramatically increasing the initial money needed to launch larger claims (and whilst fees for […]

The European Convention on Human Rights’ principle relevance to tenants’ rights is enshrined in Article 8, the “right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.” As with all the rights set out in the convention, the primary intent is to govern the relations between a state and its citizens and so the […]

If A enters into a contract on behalf of A and B but A does not have B’s authority, is the contract still valid?  This was the question which the Court of Appeal had to consider in the recent case of Marlbray Limited v Laditi and another. Mr and Mrs Laditi attended a sales fair […]

Recently, two longstanding high street brands, BHS and Austin Reed, have gone into administration. In addition to the 12,000 or so employees whose jobs are at risk there are also hundreds of suppliers who may receive only a fraction, if any, of the value of the goods which they have supplied to those two firms. […]

The phrases “to use all reasonable endeavours” and “to act in good faith” are legal terms that can often be found in contracts. But what do they actually mean? This was a question which the Court of Appeal had to consider in the case of Bristol Rovers v Sainsbury’s Supermarkets. Sainsbury’s had agreed to buy […]

On 23 June 2016, the people of the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU). The withdrawal of the UK from the EU is a process which is likely to take a number of years. Until details of the UK’s exit have been hammered out, the legal implications for dealing with cross border disputes […]

At one point or another, the unfortunate amongst us, have had to put up with noisy neighbours. In the recent case of Cocking -v- Eacott, the noisy neighbour in question was a pet terrier owned by Ms Eacott. Ms Eacott’s neighbours, Mr & Mrs Cocking, complained about the excessive barking of her dog and brought […]

In English law informal oral agreements can be binding between parties if there is an “intention to create legal relations”. This was the position in the case of Corporate Oil and Gas Limited -v- Marshall Aviation Services Limited which was decided by the High Court towards the end of last year. The Claimant was the […]

The Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment in the case of Mohamud v W M Morrison Supermarkets Plc recently when it extended the law on vicarious liability. Vicarious liability refers to a situation where someone is held responsible for the actions of another person.  A common example is where an employer is liable for the […]

The dramatic increase in court fees last year has resulted in fears that access to justice is being restricted.  One of the consequences of this is that some claims (particularly high value personal injury claims) are being issued with lower statements of value than the real value of the claim in order to attract a […]

Litigation is an expensive process which is why the courts encourage parties to try to settle their disputes. The Civil Procedure Rules (the court procedural rules that govern civil cases) set out the steps which the parties must take before proceedings are issued. These are known as “Pre-Action Protocols”. The aim of the Protocols is […]