Commercial Property Updates from November and December 2023

This 30-minute update cements your learning of new developments in the past month, and perhaps picks up on some that busy topics practitioners may have missed. This webinar will cover:

Service charges – cost of waking watch

• Radcliffe Investment Properties v Meeson [2023] UKUT 209 (LC)
• Cost of providing a waking watch could not be charged to tenants where the need arose out of the landlord’s breach of statutory duty.

Opposition to lease renewal – tenant default grounds

• Gill v Lees News Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1178
• The court provided guidance on what matters could be taken into account in deciding whether a tenant ought not to be granted a new tenancy on the basis of their breach of lease terms.

Legislation

• Brief updates on the Arbitration Bill, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, and a summary of the High Street Auctions scheme under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023

Property guardianship arrangements

• Global 100 v Jimenez; Global Guardians Management Ltd v Hounslow [2023] EWCA Civ 1243

• The Court of Appeal confirms that property guardianship arrangements will often qualify as HMOs.

Rights of first refusal – Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

• FSV Freeholders v SGL1 Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1318

• A decision on the validity of offer notices under s.5 of the 1987 Act, in circumstances where separate buildings were to be sold together.

Learning Objectives:

To cement learning of new developments in the past month, and/or gain awareness of others that busy practitioners may have missed.