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One of London’s oldest independent property consultancies has bolstered its growing planning department with a new senior associate partner. Brendan Hodges, previously of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, joins Daniel Watney LLP with more than 25 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors, including 10 years at Westminster City Council. As a key part of the Daniel Watney planning team, Brendan will be responsible for overseeing planning applications and appeals; community and stakeholder e

The role of a mediator is to work with both parties, on an independent basis, to reach a compromise that everyone can work with and move on from. A good mediator can be incredibly valuable in resolving property management disputes, including service charge cases. Mediation is an informal and confidential process that allows the parties to ‘have their say’ whilst at the same time offering the opportunity for them to potentially settle their differences through a negotiated settlement. This voluntary pr

With the trend towards building luxury apartment blocks showing no sign of slowing down, in future more and more flat owners and renters are likely to be parking their cars in underground car parks. If you manage a block with one of these on-site, it may not always be uppermost in your mind. Rather than being considered an integral part of the common areas, all too often car parks are simply regarded as a convenient add-on for residents. This attitude may be exacerbated by the fact that car parks often

QUESTION  In my lease, the landlord is entitled to increase the rent in November. Does he have an obligation to inform me of his intention to do this?     ANSWER For the purpose of this response, I am assuming that your lease is a residential lease. In your lease, you are likely to have a “rent review clause” which will specify the mechanism by which the rent will be reviewed. It is common for the rent review clause to specify that notice must be given by the landlord (or sometimes the tenant) to initiate

QUESTION    The flat I own shares its freehold with three other flat owners in the Victorian house. I recently undertook some very necessary communal repairs to stop my flat from being affected by damp. The other owners knew of the damp problems and the need for repair; they also knew that I was looking to find a builder. I eventually found one and authorised them to do the repairs without discussion with the other owners, who were away or who did not want to make a decision before going away – although

If a landlord wishes to carry out work to a building which exceeds the applicable limit (currently £250 per property), then the contributions will be capped at that limit. That is unless the landlord has either complied with statutory consultation requirements or can demonstrate that the consultation requirements have been dispensed with by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). However, this becomes complicated when there is a freeholder (the superior landlord) and a head lessee (the immediate lan

Arising out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and later statutory instrument, are limitations on service charge recoverability relating to both qualifying works and services under the 1985 Act and, in particular, provides expenditure thresholds that trigger consultation procedures. The current thresholds for triggering a landlord’s liability to consult leaseholders are set at £100 per leaseholder per year for qualifying long term agreements and £250 per leaseholder per year for qualifying works. In

It is a well-established principle that parties in litigation have a right to set off claims against each other. For example, if a defendant owes a claimant £300, but the claimant owes the defendant £100, then the claimant will only be able to recover £200 from the defendant. The sums are ‘set-off’. In a property management context, if a landlord has failed to comply with its obligations to repair, a leaseholder may wish to set off any damage against the service charge he owes. Whilst useful for lea

There are many different steps that can be taken to prevent service charge issues from arising. If issues do arise then there’s still a lot that can be done to nip them in the bud. Making a claim or defending a claim in the County Court or the Property Tribunal does not have to be the inevitable when instructing lawyers. There are rarely any true winners when cases disputing service charge end up at a contested hearing. Here’s what we think you should expect: Verified data None receipt of demands

How much can landlords charge for consent fees and will they get away with it? The question was recently looked at by the High Court in relation to a large Docklands development. The tenant was selling off several of its 42 flats, which were held on 999 year leases. Under the terms of the lease, the tenant was required to obtain the consent of the landlord (which was not to be unreasonably withheld). As a condition of the consent, the landlord required payment of all the arrears plus an administration f

It is one of the sector’s favoured clichés that leaseholders need greater education. Although the rest of the world seems to find owning a flat relatively simple, leaseholders in England and Wales are unique in not quite understanding what it is that they own. So the sector is all for a bit of education to put them straight: that they are tenants, not real homeowners, and that they need to pay their bills on time and without argument. But the sector is a good deal less enthusiastic about the advance

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Negotiator Conference on the subject on the changes in the housing market which prompted an interesting reaction. Asking how many of the estate agents were aware of the Information for Leaseholders sheet which should be given to all prospective buyers there was not a hand in the room which went up. Not one of the attendees was distributing the document. For the leasehold market to deliver fairness and evenness for all will require the buyers to know what th