Commercial Property Updates from January 2024

‘Newcomer’ injunctions sanctioned by Supreme Court

Wolverhampton City Council and others v London Gypsies and Travellers and others [2023] UKSC 47

The Supreme Court has outlined the scope of injunctions binding the whole world, with potential applications not only for traveller occupation, but also for multi-site protests.

Anti-competitive supermarket land agreements – Competitions and Markets Authority action

The CMA has taken action to compel Morrisons and Marks and Spencer to discontinue anti-competitive land agreements.

Informal car parking rights transferred – interpretation of headlease

Duchess of Bedford House RTM Company Ltd and others v Campden Hill Gate Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1470

The Court of Appeal has confirmed the acquisition of parking rights by ‘settled practice’, and also adopted a restrictive interpretation of common wording intended to exclude or prevent the transmission or creation of rights which could impede future development.

Registration of restriction to prevent unlawfulness

Yarnold v Ziga [2023] All ER (D) 68 (Dec)

A restriction has been ordered to be entered on a registered title to prevent a disposition which would have been in breach of a term held to be implied into a joint venture agreement.

WWII bomb damage not covered by insurance policy

The University of Exeter v Allianz Insurance Plc [2023] EWCA Civ 1484

Where damage was caused by the detonation of an unexploded WWII bomb, the court had to decide whether the cause of the damage was the initial dropping of the bomb, or the detonation 80 years later, and whether it came within a policy exclusion for war damage.

Mandatory ADR

Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416

In a landmark decision, it has been held in the Court of Appeal that the courts have jurisdiction to compel litigants to engage in alternative dispute resolution procedures.

Recoverability of legal costs through service charge

89 Holland Park (Management) Ltd v Dell [2023] EWCA Civ 1460

Significant sums incurred by a landlord management company in litigation were held not to be recoverable through the service charge under clauses containing general ‘sweeper’ wording.

Learning Objectives:

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