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Roger Hardwick

Roger Hardwick

Brethertons LLP | Partner

Biography

Roger is recognised as one of the UK’s leading experts in residential leasehold property law and has over 17 years’ experience.

He has played a key role in the development of leasehold case law and legislation. His work includes statutory lease extensions, collective enfranchisement and right to manage claims; freehold acquisitions; ground rent portfolio sales and purchases; residential service charge disputes; applications to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and appeals to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), including applications to determine service charge liabilities, applications to appoint a manager and applications to vary leases.

You’d Beitov believe it!

A recent Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (“UTLC”) decision many will have considered mundane or trivial at first, has caught a surprising number of managing agents off guard. Section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (“LTA87”) provides that “where any written demand is given to a tenant of a dwelling, the demand must contain: (a) the name and address of the landlord, and (b) if that address is not in England and Wales, an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in

Recovering Legal Costs from Leaseholders

“The landlord seeks to recover money from the tenant. On ordinary principles there must be clear terms in the contractual provisions said to entitle him to do so.” (Gilje v Charlgrove Securities) If there is any ambiguity in a lease, it will be construed against the landlord. The obligation to contribute towards an expense must arise “clearly and plainly from the words that are used”. If it does not, it will not be recoverable. A well drafted modern lease will expressly allow the landlord or managemen

Covenants in Enfranchisement Transfers

One Significant area of contention in enfranchisement is the question of which covenants may be included in the Transfer of a freehold, where a leaseholder exercises his right to acquire the freehold of his house under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. Leasehold covenants include an obligation to pay ground rent; various restrictions on the use and enjoyment of their property and possibly the recovery of a service charge. Often, leasehold house owners see enfranchisement as a means of escaping these obliga

What are tripartite leases?

During the mid 1980’s the way in which flats in England and Wales were being built and sold began to change. Why? Because developers began to realise that legislation being proposed and enacted by the government of the time was granting leaseholders more and more rights/powers in respect of consultation requirements, management audits and flat management generally. Developers know the balance of power was beginning to shift and consequently being a freeholder was no longer an attractive prospect. What

The RTM Claim has landed now what?

Upon receipt of a Right To Manage claim notice, a landlord party will need to give consideration to legal, commercial and tactical issues, which will include the following: Whether or not to admit the claim; Its obligations and position in respect of contracts; Issues with regard to contractor notices; The general approach to take in dealing with the RTM Company; The treatment of service charges; and Costs. Counter-Notice Any party given a claim notice by a RTM company may give a counter-notice.

How to change your lease terms

Many leases are often poorly drafted and defective. For example, the lease may not specify the party responsible for some repair and maintenance within the demised premises, or who pays for work that needs to be done or more commonly, may allocate service charges in proportions that do not add up to 100%. Landlords, leaseholders and property managers should know that remedies are available to resolve a defective lease situation. Generally, there are two ways to vary leases: By obtaining the consent

Is your residents association formally recognised?

Recognising the Residents To be effective, a residents’ association should be formally recognised particularly as legislation confers on recognised associations additional powers and rights. Advantages of Recognition Recognised Residents’ Associations are entitled to:- Obtain information about service charge accounts; Be consulted about the landlord’s choice of appointing managing agents; Be notified by the landlord of proposed major works and receive copies of estimates etc. Su

Setting up a Residents’ committee

To be effective, a residents’ association should be formally recognised.Who Can Become a Member of a Residents’ Association? In general terms to become a member of a residents’ association you must be contributing to a service charge, which is a sum in addition to the rent and payable directly or indirectly for services, repairs, maintenance, improvement or insurance and the whole or part of which varies according to the relevant cost. This should be contrasted with leaseholders who pay a fixed or non-

Buying your freehold - the law in a nutshell

Many lessees may have heard the term “enfranchisement” without really knowing what it means. Basically enfranchisement is a group or collective right for leaseholders of flats to buy the freehold of the building they live in, regardless of whether the landlord wants to sell. Seeking a lease extension on the other hand, is an individual right for leaseholders to buy a new, extended lease which adds on 90 years to the unexpired lease with no ground rent. Although the rights are slightly different, the proc

Enfranchisement - The Jargon Buster!

The law of leasehold enfranchisement has come to assume major importance as an area of law which affects many residential properties. Some knowledge of leasehold law is essential for those who deal and live in residential property let on long leases. LEASEHOLD PROPERTY Ownership of leasehold property means that the leaseholder has a right to use and enjoy that property for a defined period of time i.e. 99 years, 125 years or 999 years.LEASE A Lease is a legal term used to describe a particular type of

Your Legal Toolkit - Take the right legal steps

Traditionally, there has always been a distinction between a “Reserve Fund” and a “Sinking Fund”. A “Reserve Fund” is a fund into which leaseholders pay a regular sum of money to be used by the landlord to meet recurring expenditure, for example, periodic expenditure of exterior and common parts of the block. In contrast, a “Sinking Fund” provides for expenditure that might only be incurred once or twice during the lease term on specific terms. A good example of such an item of expenditure would be th

Sportelli goes to the lords

Is the Vesuvius of the Leasehold Enfranchisement World about to erupt again? On 21st April 2008, Leave to Appeal to the House of Lords was granted in the Earl of Cadogan v Sportelli case. Leave to Appeal in the case has been granted in respect of “Hope Value” only.What is Hope Value? To understand the concept of “Hope Value”, consideration must first be given to another familiar valuation concept : “marriage value”. When a leaseholder is buying the freehold or extending their lease, he has to pay som

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