Articles by ‘Caroline Preist’

In Property Disputes, we are frequently asked whether it’s possible to recover legal costs from the other party to a dispute. The answer depends on whether the dispute is determined by the civil courts or the specialist property tribunals called the Property Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal (usually abbreviated to ‘FTT’).

Disclaimer: This story is not about the saga of Lady Gaga cooking on an Aga (unfortunately). Authorised guarantee agreements (AGAs) have been featured in a string of court cases dating back to 2005. These have included whether the performance of the AGA can be guaranteed by a guarantor (known as a GAGA) and now whether a lease can be assigned to the tenant’s guarantor.

When buying a property there are a many things to consider; the crime rates in the area, the surveyor’s report, the potential returns of investing in commercial property, the proximity of a river to name just a few.

In most cases, issues are resolved during a purchase, the purchaser moves in and lives happily ever after. However, as was the case recently with a professional gambler, a property owner may be shocked to later discover that their humble abode is surrounded by a strip of land they thought was theirs but is, in fact, owned by someone else.

In Property Disputes, we come across a wide range of legal queries relating to landlord and tenant law, and this is a common question raised by residential flat owners.

As of 1 February 2016, private landlords must check the right of prospective tenants to be in the country before a tenancy is offered. If a prospective tenant does not have the right to be in the UK and a tenancy is offered to them, the landlord could face a hefty £3,000 fine.

The High Court has recently confirmed who owns a Banksy mural which appeared overnight on a building in Kent.

The government has announced a significant new bundle of measures to address the housing crisis and shortage of supply throughout the country.

Leasehold enfranchisement is the legal principle which empowers residential flat owners to preserve the value of their flats, to take over management of their building, and even ownership of the freehold. In the case of residential flats, the rights are granted by the Leasehold Reform (Housing & Urban Development) Act 1993 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

Can landlords recover their legal costs from tenants if they win at court or a property tribunal?

Forfeiture is the unilateral ending of a lease by a landlord following the non-performance of some obligation or condition.

It’s well known that the owner of one piece of land can gain a right of way over another’s land by using it, whether on foot or in vehicles for over 20 years.

But a recent case extends the ways in which rights can be acquired.

A recent Court of Appeal case has confirmed that a separate Right to Manage (RTM) company must be formed for each individual building containing residential flats in an estate. In the common situation where a residential estate consists of more than one building, the flat owners/leaseholders/lessees in each building will need to form a separate RTM company, and follow the Right to Manage procedure independently of each other.