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A housing association that put residents at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning during building renovations has been fined £8,000. Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership Limited allowed chimneys that acted as gas flues for adjacent properties to be removed from buildings on two occasions. An investigation by the health and Safety Executive (HSE) into both incidents revealed that when the chimney removals took place no risk assessments were carried out to identify the risk of poisoning. Inspectors also fo

An organisation that provides free information, advice and guidance about residential leasehold and park homes law is looking for volunteers.   LEASE has been providing the service since 1994 and all of its advisers are legally qualified.  If you want to volunteer to use your knowledge and expertise as part of a supportive team of like-minded people, contact volunteer co-ordinator Ibraheem Dulmeer on 0207 832 2500 or you can email volunteers@lease-advice.org

Donald Trump has become the United States’ first apartment block developer to be elected President – but not everyone is so keen to be associated with the name!   Residents at Manhattan’s luxurious apartment complex Trump Place have successfully campaigned to have the name of the complex changed. The tenants at the Riverside Boulevard building in New York’s Upper West Side petitioned landlord Equity Residential urging it to “Dump the Trump”.   An online petition explained residents were “embarrasse

A software firm and a utility management company have teamed up to help block managers save time and money by outsourcing the administration of their utilities.   Qube Global Software has partnered with Block Management Utilities (BMU) to create a network of software and service providers that will deliver better deals and improved service to customers. Block managers who sign up will be able to hand responsibility for energy bills relating to communal areas of their blocks, such as lobbies, lift and comm

Developers who use hidden clauses to ramp up ground rents have been warned to help homeowners who are stuck in homes they can’t sell by the housing minister, who has promised to ‘stamp out’ the ‘unacceptable’ abuse of the leasehold system.    The housing minister has pledged to “stamp out” leasehold abuses that has led to some homebuyers facing spiralling ground rents after being locked into lease contracts.   Gavin Barwell also demanded that developers come up with solutions to help those householders al

Bishop & Sewell, a leading full service Central London law firm, announces the appointment of Stephen Charnock as Senior Associate Solicitor in its Landlord & Tenant team. Stephen specialises in Leasehold Enfranchisement and has more than 20 years’ experience in this complex area of law. Stephen dealt with some of the very first claims when the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act was enacted in 1993 introducing new enfranchisement rights for leaseholders of residential flats. He is a recogn

So, what is all this MEES business? MEES is the acronym for “Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards” which can be tracked all the way back to the Energy Act 2011 but was in fact introduced more formally in March 2015 via the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales)  Regulations 2015. And as I am sure most of you know EPC stands for “Energy Performance Certificate”. All fascinating stuff but why is this important? Let me explain.   Now that we are firmly in the clutches of 2017, the yea

The Upper Tribunal has made it clear in its recent decisions that it will show no sympathy for tenants’ procedural mistakes in right to manage (RTM) claims. The Upper Tribunal has issued stark warning for tenants seeking to acquire the right to manage their building that the statutory procedures are not difficult to comply with and so you must get it right. It can however be tricky to navigate around the statutory requirements and tenants either going it alone or appointing inexperienced representatives a

Nationally recognised property management specialist, Cassandra Zanelli and her team have joined hlw Keeble Hawson – marking a significant development for the firm. Based in Doncaster and boasting a nationwide client base of freehold-owning and property management companies, the five-strong team will launch a new department entitled ‘PM Legal Services’. The areas of expertise of Miss Zanelli and her colleagues, who jointly combine a wealth of industry experience, include resolving complex property dispute

QUESTION A fellow leaseholder has apparently taken the Freeholder to the Tribunal and won some concessions in regard to Management Charge issues (ie Reductions in Charge) but it appears that the concessions that this leaseholder won are not being applied to all the other leaseholders, although they all share the same issue. Is that correct? Must I take the Freeholder to the Tribunal in respect of my own leasehold flat to get the same concessions? Seems to me to be a whole lot of money being wasted for the

Introduction The premium payable to extend a flat lease may increase as a result of a new method of calculating one of its key components following the decision in Sloane Stanley Estate v Mundy [2016] UKUT 223 (LC). Flat owners pay a premium for a new lease. One of the potential components of the premium depends on the relative value of the flat with and without an extended lease. Where you set this “relativity” can have a big effect on the premium payable. It is complicated by the right to claim an exten

The corporate team at DMH Stallard is celebrating today after scooping the Corporate Law Firm of the Year Award at a top industry awards event. The Insider South East Dealmakers Awards were held last night (Thursday 2 February) at a glittering ceremony hosted by Strictly Come Dancing winner, Chris Hollins. The awards are widely regarded as the most prestigious recognition for professionals involved in buying and selling businesses in the South East. This is the fourth time the firm has achieved this honou