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Qualifying tenants who meet the requisite criteria set out in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA) can act together to exercise the right to acquire the freehold of their building through a Nominee Purchaser. This process is known as collective enfranchisement. Collective enfranchisement does not always mean that the previous Freeholder is unable to retain an interest in respect of property within the building. When the freehold of the building is being acquired by the N

Where a landlord is in breach of an obligation under the terms of a lease, either due to him being an “absentee landlord” or he is quite simply not performing his lease obligations, and his breach is likely to continue, asking the court for an Acquisition Order for the freehold may be another option open to tenants. An Acquisition Order may be applied for by any of the qualifying leaseholders in the building and generally there are two avenues open to them: 1. Apply to the High Court or County Court fo

In a slew of recent cases in the First-tier Tribunal and in several appeal cases in the Upper Tribunal, the tribunal has applied a forgiving approach to consideration of the validity of notices. That approach has included taking into account the consequences of non-compliance and in particular whether any prejudice had been suffered by the receiving party. In Natt v Osman [2015] the Court of Appeal signalled the return to a strict approach in the interpretation of notices. In that case the landlord had

Much has been written and discussed about the High Court decision in Westbrook Dolphin Square Limited and Friends Life Limited and Westbrook Dolphin Square Residential 1 Limited [2014], albeit such was the nature of the litigation any valuation lessons are difficult to interpret, unless you have in depth knowledge of the case. £111.66 million odd had been offered in the notice for the freeholder’s interest at Dolphin Square (‘DS’). The legal argument in valuation parlance at DS is described as the ‘reali

Tenants in large mansion blocks may often find they have to tolerate their landlord undertaking significant development works to the common parts to which they object, such as creating new apartments on the roof, or using redundant storage space or common areas to create new apartments. The landlord would argue that as long as these areas remain within their ownership they can do what they like, as long as the works do not pose a substantial interference with the tenants’ rights. Landlords’ development

The term “placemaking” has been a very fashionable word in the property industry over the last few years. Property investors and developers have discovered that by actively managing an area they can make it a desirable destination for residents, which in turn increases rents and values in the area. While not labelled placemaking, landed estates have been doing this for many years and the approach to enfranchisement and lease extensions forms a part of this. Landlords have to see themselves as the custod

It is not uncommon for apartment blocks to be owned by the tenants who live there. What happens when those tenants fall out? This can be tricky where tenants are shareholders (and possibly also directors) of the company that owns the freehold. The most common reason for disputes surrounds repair works, with tenants disagreeing what is and is not in need of repair. These disputes are difficult, as the parties are neighbours, and often present some interesting legal challenges - for example, the rights of

After five months I have now got my feet under the table and I am enjoying the role and challenges of chairing the Leasehold Advisory Service. There have been some interesting communications and issues to address and there have been some unexpected matters. Being stuck in purdah over the election period was interesting and thank goodness it is now over. Of course, now the election is finished the polls were proven to be misleading. That is all academic now and we have to see what the next five years brin

Under the terms of most residential leases a lessee is prohibited from making certain types of alterations unless they first obtain permission from the landlord. This is normally given by way of a document called a licence to alter. The wording of leases varies, so great care needs to be taken if a lessee wants to make alterations. Occasionally leases prohibit any alteration. In those circumstances the landlord must always be asked in advance of any work being done. Other examples where alterations are

For years the interests of the management fee Paying leaseholder has long been forgotten, and the interests of the housebuilders themselves and subsequent freeholders has been the priority for the residential managing agent. Generally there is only one outcome of this for leaseholders: poor service levels and inflated service charges to line the pockets of those who only have a commercial interest in your residential development and your investment. It’s a fact that nobody likes to pay a service charge;

Focusing on the residential element of mixed-use schemes, any ‘challenge’ to the management regime or service charge will be driven from the residential plot lease upwards.  When initial consideration is being given to the development of a communal estate management regime for a building that is multi-let and occupied by differing classes of tenants, the starting point is always the occupational lease. It is the lease that defines which items of expenditure may be recovered from the tenants in the form o

After a recent spurt of rent growth, landlords anticipate that rent rises will taper off over the next 12 months, according to a survey of more than 1,200 landlords by Your Move and Reeds Rains. On average UK landlords anticipate that rents will increase by 1.7% in the coming year, a sharp slowdown from the current rate of annual rent growth to a steadier trajectory. According to the latest Your Move/Reeds Rains Buy-to-Let Index, average residential rents across the UK climbed 3.7% in the year to March 2