News

SDLT consultation on sub-sales

Time is running on the HMRC consultation on proposals to change the stamp duty land tax rules on transfers of rights and sub-sales – see High-risk areas of the tax code: The Stamp Duty Land Tax transfer of rights or sub-sale rules. The consultation period runs until 9 October 2012. HMRC wishes to bring in changes to section 45 Finance Act 2003 in 2013 in order to prevent avoidance of SDLT. It says: “Attempts to abuse these rules have been at the heart of many SDLT avoidance schemes in recent years. Marketing and promotion of this abuse cannot be […]

Current webinars

Forthcoming property webinars that may interest you include:
– 10 September 2012 – Drafting and negotiating developers’ option agreements.
– 24 September 2012 – Due diligence in investment property acquisitions.
– 1 October 2012 – Buying and selling in insolvency situations.
Click on the contact button above and request an invitation to join.

Webinar – planning matters for the property lawyer

This webinar was over-subscribed in May and is being repeated (live) next Monday 16 July at 12.30pm. Issues to be covered include: The effect of the NPPF; how The Localism Act is affecting planning (neighbourhood development; duty to consult; assets of community value); what activity necessitates permission; what enforcement action may be taken, and when; what are the new rules on deliberate concealment; what additional consents may be necessary for development; how does a conveyancer know that a property is planning law compliant? Click on the contact button above and request an invitation to join.

Underleases under the spotlight

Underleases give rise to a whole raft of potential problem areas. The next Property PSL webinar on Monday 9 July (12.30pm start time) considers many of these problems, including: What should a landlord consider when permitting underlettings? What drafting issues arise in relation to underleases (e.g. length of term; repair standards; dealings with part; reinstatements; 1954 Act contracting out; easements in under-leases)? What peculiarities arise with concurrent or overriding leases? What effect does termination of a head-lease have on underleases? What are the 1954 Act implications of sub-letting?

See https://propertypsl.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=propertypsl for all forthcoming property webinars.

Use the contact button above if you […]

Webinars for the rest of 2012

An updated programme of property webinars, running through to December 2012, has been posted at http://propertypsl.co.uk/online-cpd.

Webinar – Planning matters for the property lawyer

21 May 2012 – Planning matters for the property lawyer.
Please note that this webinar is full, but will be repeated (live) on Monday 16 July 2012 at 12.30pm. Use the contact button to get in touch.

Enlargement under section 153 LPA 1925

The Land Registry is changing its practice at the end of June on registration of title where a tenant enlarges its interest under section 153 LPA 1925. Subject to the conditions laid down by section 153, a long lessee (i.e. a tenant holding a lease granted for a term of not less than three hundred years) enjoys the right to enlarge its lease into a freehold estate, simply by executing a deed unilaterally. Provided the long lease does not include a forfeiture clause for breach of covenant, and no rent is reserved, or the rent is merely a peppercorn, the […]

Ensuring you have an undertaking

How does a buyer’s conveyancer complete a property transaction where a seller’s mortgage remains to be discharged? If a mortgage discharge is not available at completion, standard practice is to rely upon solicitors’ undertakings. In many cases, in advance of completion, the buyer’s conveyancer will use form STER, which asks the seller’s solicitor to supply a list of all mortgages and other financial charges affecting the property (the Charges), to confirm that all the Charges are to be discharged on completion, to confirm that the purchase money be sufficient to discharge all the Charges, and, if discharges will not be […]

New rules for tenancy deposits – FAQs from DCLG

Section 184 of the Localism Act 2011 makes changes to the rules on residential tenancy deposits. Article 8 of The Localism Act 2011 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional, Transitory and Saving Provisions) Order 2012 (SI 2012/628) brought section 184 of the Localism Act 2011 into force on 6 April in England and Wales.

DCLG provides some FAQs on its website. See:
Changes to the Tenancy Deposit Protection legislation – Frequently asked questions.

One of the questions is: “Are the changes retrospective? No. The amendments apply to any deposit received in connection with an assured shorthold tenancy which the Housing Act 2004 […]

New rules for EPCs – FAQ from DCLG

As detailed last month (Changes to EPC Rules) the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections)(England and Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2012 have made changes to the rules governing the provision of EPCs with effect from April 6, 2012.

DCLG has now compiled some (frequently asked questions on its website attempting to clarify the circumstances in which an Energy Performance Certificate is required, explaining what rules apply to the commissioning of an Energy Performance Certificate before marketing property for sale or let, detailing the circumstances in which the Energy Performance Certificate is to be provided with written property particulars, and dealing with […]

Changes to CRC?

Perhaps it is going to be scrapped.

“The Carbon Reduction Commitment was established by the previous Government. It is cumbersome, bureaucratic and imposes unnecessary cost on business. So we will seek major savings in the administrative cost of the Commitment for business. If those cannot be found, I will bring forward proposals this autumn to replace the revenues with an alternative environmental tax.”

Budget 2012 statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne MP.

Hold fire on that drafting….

Changes to EPC rules

The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections)(England and Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2012 make changes to the rules governing the provision of EPCs with effect from April 6, 2012. The changes deal with the following:

– Extending, to all buildings, the requirement now applicable in residential property cases to commission an EPC before marketing the property for sale or rent.

– Reducing the period in which a seller/landlord must secure that a valid EPC is obtained for the property from the current 28 days of the property being put on the market to 7 days (and making this applicable to non-residential […]

Charity land dispositions

The Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011) received Royal Assent on 14 December 2011. The Act comes into force at the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the day on which it is passed, meaning that the new Act will come into force on Wednesday 14 March 2012. The Act is a consolidating Act, but as a result of CA 2011, the Charities Act 1993 (CA 1993) will be repealed. For property lawyers, this will mean that there is a need to change statutory references in standard certificates and statements currently provided in contracts, transfers, leases and charges […]

CPSE survey

As part of a general review of the Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSE) suite of documents, the London Property Support Lawyers Group and PLC Property have commissioned a survey of users which invites comments and suggestions by Friday 9 March 2012. See CPSE User Survey 2012.

The timing is good: the next but one PSL Webinar on 24 February 2012 covers “Standard Documents for Commercial Property Transactions: using the CPSEs, and the CLLS Certificate of Title”. See http://www.propertypsl.co.uk/online-cpd, or use the contact button above if you would like to view.

Attacking conditional break rights

There is a fantastic article in this week’s Estates Gazette by Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC (“Humpty Dumpty and break clauses” – EG 21 January, page 86) which should be read by every tenant, and tenant’s advisor, who is struggling to convince its landlord that it has complied with all of the pre-conditions of the break. In this article, Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC encourages judges to take a “commercially purposive” approach to the interpretation of break clauses and their conditions: in effect, to perceive ambiguities in the drafting, so as to open the door to interpretation and construction of clauses that clearly flout […]

Nemo dat quod non habet?

Can you give if you haven’t got? Can you create legal title when you do not have legal title? In Cook v The Mortgage Business Plc [2012] EWCA Civ 17 (24 January 2012) Etherton LJ says, at [59], in relation to the creation of a short-term lease (not exceeding 7 years) by a transferee of a registered title in the “registration gap” between transfer and registration:

“Prior to the registration of the purchaser as the proprietor, the purchaser’s interest in the property can subsist only in equity. As a matter of basic land law, an equitable owner of land cannot […]

More problems exercising break rights

Tenants often find trouble where a break right is to be exercised. In Avocet Industrial Estates LLP v Merol Ltd & Anor [2011] EWHC 3422 (Ch), the tenant had to ensure that, at the break date (17 March 2010), “any payment under this lease due to have been paid on or before that date” had been paid, and that the tenant had “paid to the Landlord a sum equal to 6 months Annual Rent.” The tenant served a valid notice to determine. On 16 March 2010, the tenant’s solicitors sent a letter by hand enclosing a cheque for a sum […]

Localism Act – New planning enforcement powers

Following issues of concealment of unlawful development exposed in the case of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2011] UKSC 15, the Localism Act 2011 inserts new sections 171BA, 171BB, and 171BC into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. These provisions are expected to come into force this spring. They will enable local planning authorities in England to apply to the magistrates’ court for a planning enforcement order within 6 months of the date upon the authority becomes aware of evidence of an apparent breach of planning control. This will enable the […]