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Leaseholders at a Welsh leisure park have lost their Supreme Court appeal against service charges that will eventually top £500,000. The appellants in the Arnold v Britton and others case are leaseholders of chalets at the Oxwich Leisure Park near Swansea. There are 91 chalets on the site, each let on a 99-year lease from 1974. The first 70 leases granted contain a clause stating that lessees would pay an annual service charge that would increase by a compound rate of ten per cent every three years. The

The Deposit Protection Service has advised landlords and letting agents to act soon over older tenancy deposits, now that new legislation has introduced a deadline for their protection. Following the Deregulation Act, which passed into law at the end of March, landlords have until 23 June to protect deposits taken before 6 April, 2007 and which they are still holding for periodic tenancies agreed on or after that date. The Act has also clarified the uncertainty created by a June 2013 decision by the Cou

Law firm Moore Blatch is warning landlords that they could be hit with compensation claims in the event of a data protection breach, even if no ‘financial loss’ occurs. It follows the ruling in the recent Google Inc. v Vidal-Hall court case, where the Court of Appeal clarified the rules under the Data Protection Act 1988, which were previously interpreted as allowing compensation claims only if a data breach caused a financial loss. Following clarification by the court, Clause 13 of the Act will now be

Landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, under legislation expected to take effect from October. It is thought the move could help prevent up to 26 deaths and 670 injuries a year. Mark Oakes, from the Building & Engineering Services Association, said: “We welcome this new legislation as it will mean landlords will have to install smoke alarms on each storey of their property and carbon monoxide alarms in the rooms considered most at risk f

Homeowners who are planning to commision building projects must now ensure they use a contractor that adheres to new construction rules. Changes to the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) came into effect on April 6. This legislation aims to reduce accidents during construction projects via good design, planning and co-operation, and also specifies legal requirements on site safety standards and for the provision of welfare facilities such as access to toilets. If homeowners - incl

192.com has launched Property Report, a new product that provides key information about any residential property in England and Wales. The report includes title registration, property and local home valuations, details of occupiers, local crime types and levels, and school rankings.

The Government has held a consultation on ways of making it easier to get recognition for a tenants’ association. Former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, sought the opinions of parties including leaseholders, landlords, freehold owners, managing agents, and trade or representative bodies during the consultation, which ran from March until May 22. There are two ways of seeking formal recognition of a tenants’ association. Recognition can be given by a landlord or,

QUESTION For my leasehold flat I receive Service Charge demands which bear the name of a management company but not the name and address of the landlord or freeholder The managing agent says it does not have to provide the name and address of the landlord or freeholder as the Service Charge money goes to the management company and not the landlord or freeholder. I thought that under Section 47 of Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 any written demands must bear the name and address of the landlord. Please can

QUESTION Can you advise whether it is legally required for a flat owner in a block of flats to have home contents insurance? The reason I ask is that a leak occurred a while ago from a boiler in a top floor flat causing a small but significant ingress of water into the flat below resulting in minor damage to the ceiling (coving and water stains). The owners of the top floor (which is a let flat) say that they have no contents insurance. Would it depend on whether the flat concerned is furnished or unfu

QUESTION We are a block of 36 studio flats in South West London. The block was erected in 1962 and is facing rising maintenance problems due to its age. We have money in the sinking fund, but due to extensive work needed to modernise the block this will deplete most of it. We have already raised levies for double glazing the windows and a new boiler, so another very large one will not be popular with the owners. Can we borrow money from a financial institute to create a large sinking fund? We own the fr

QUESTION We are 5 flat owners who have just obtained RTM. Our building consists of the 5 flats and a take away food outlet which the freeholder owns and rents out. Are we, the lessees, allowed to obtain buildings insurance ourselves, in spite of the commercial element, or does the freeholder have to arrange the insurance. We took him to the Tribunal in 2012, 2013 and 2014 because of excessive insurance premiums which included a large commission. The 2015 insurance is just as excessive so we want to arran

QUESTION I had a leak caused by an Housing Association tenant, living above my flat. Do I have to repair before I can claim, I have sent them an invoice but they are doing everything not to pay up. Should I repair and then ask for the refund.   ANSWER I will deal with some general legal points first, before answering your specific question. Although this will depend on the specific facts of the case, which are not clear from the enquiry, it seems that you may have a claim against the Housing Associat