Property Law

Stamp Duty The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced on 8 July 2020 that there will be no stamp duty payable on property purchases up to £500,000. Stamp duty land tax is a tax paid when you purchase a piece of land or property in England or Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales have their own systems. The […]

The Government has now laid the Business and Planning Bill before Parliament which includes more details of the planning measures, outlined in our previous blog ‘New planning measures to boost construction post lock down’. Extending the Implementation Deadline of Full Planning Permissions Full permissions in England which are subject to conditions which require development to […]

Extending Planning Permission Deadlines All planning permissions include a planning condition which requires work to begin within a specified period of time. For full planning permissions this period is usually three years from the date of the planning permission. Outline planning permissions usually require reserved matters to be submitted within three years of the date […]

There has been a code for leasing commercial property since 2007, which acts as a guide for setting out key terms that are considered reasonable in the market. In February 2020, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published a new code to reflect the modernisation of commercial lease terms over the past 13 years. […]

Renters across England and Wales have been granted a further reprieve from any possible evictions after the government announced that the moratorium on residential possession claims and evictions is to be extended until 23 August 2020. The extension applies to both private and public sector landlords. The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 2) (Coronavirus) Rules 2020, […]

As we move into the sixth week of lockdown, this article attempts to look at what changes we have adopted for our clients, how property transactions have evolved and what is likely to happen as we move forward. Blacks’ response to the crisis With the impending lockdown there was no doubt that this new crisis […]

With Easter approaching and summer just around the corner, now may usually be the time that you look forward to having a spring clean or even a fresh start. However, the Coronavirus has taken the world by surprise, putting many of our plans on hold. We are currently being flooded by realms of information, and […]

It’s reassuring to hear stories of people rallying to help one-another in these difficult times.  However, in relation to matters involving hard cash, the warmth of human kindness can become a little cool. When it comes to property rentals, landlords and tenants will still want to get the best possible deal out of any tenancy. […]

An announcement by the Government confirms commercial tenants are now protected from eviction if they do not pay their rent due to coronavirus (covid-19). The announcement could be seen to be late because it was published on the Government website two days prior to the March quarter date. Although, perhaps early too because solvent tenants would […]

It’s safe to say that our homes are sacred to us, and if buying and selling your house wasn’t difficult enough, as a nation we now face new challenges. Over the last 15 years the housing market has had to deal with a great level of turmoil and uncertainty including a global recession, political turmoil, […]

As the Covid-19 crisis has started to unfold, the Government has taken steps to alleviate economic suffering for many retail, leisure and hospitality businesses that are paying business rates, in the form of the Expanded Retail Discount. The Government had previously announced that there would be a discount on business rates for retail businesses and […]

It may seem like a straightforward commercial decision for a landlord to deduct unpaid rent from a tenant’s deposit. However, caution should be exercised in light of the decision of Re London Bridge Entertainment Parts LLP (in administration) [2019] EWHC 2932 (Ch) (London Bridge), as any obligation for a tenant to ‘top up’ a rent […]