Property Law

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 […]

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 […]

About to take on a lease of commercial premises? Make sure you are aware of the repair liability you are taking on… An FRI lease is the abbreviated term for a lease which imposes full repairing and insuring obligations on the tenant, relieving the landlord from all liability for the cost of and repairs. Most commercial leases will place […]

Time is always an important factor in contractual relationships but when time is ‘of the essence’, it becomes critical. Does it matter? ‘Of the essence’ means that something is extremely important – therefore when time is expressed to be ‘of the essence’, it is vital that deadlines are met. You may think that surely it […]

Small Business Rates Relief As from 1 April 2016 there will be further relief for those small businesses in England that successfully apply for small business rates relief.  The previous temporary increase in the level of relief available was due to end on 31 March 2016 but the increase has been extended until 31 March […]

Most people know a tree when they see one. Big, leaves, branches, roots etc, but a recent Court of Appeal decision answered the rather unusual legal question: When does a tree become a tree? In Distinctive Properties (Ascot) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another [2015], the Court of Appeal […]

Following the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s) on 1 August 2007, the property market has been slow to react to the results shown by them. With this in mind, the Energy Act 2011 obliges the Government to bring into force measures to improve the energy efficiency of both non-domestic and domestic properties. The easiest way […]

When you want to sell alcohol from a property to the general public, you need to have a premises licence from the local authority to be able to do so. If you don’t have a premises licence, you can be prosecuted and shut down by the local authority and / or the police. Your premises […]

As of 1 October the procedure for giving a tenant notice under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy has been radically changed. This is a result the Deregulation Act 2015, which has previously altered the Tenancy Deposit position once before. The somewhat vague name of the Act, which deals with a wide variety of subjects, is likely to […]

You cannot fail to have noticed the LGBT movement in recent weeks. The Pride March in London, the major US Supreme Court decision to give same-sex couples the nationwide right to marry and social media sites, like Facebook, awash with rainbow tinted profile pictures. Many may feel that this wave of support is long overdue […]

Where there is ambiguity in a contract or a lease the Courts can interpret the wording in the clause using commercial common sense. In the recent case of Arnold v Britton the Supreme Court was asked, on appeal by a tenant, to apply this approach in determining the service charge provisions in a number of […]

Mortgage fraud is big business, whether for straight profit, by obtaining finance on a property under false pretences, or as a method of laundering money gained by criminal means. What should a property owner look out for? Here are a couple of studies from cases Blacks has dealt with in the recent past: Case study […]