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Leases often require that, once a rent review has been agreed, the new rent be recorded in a rent review memorandum. What legal effect, if any, the memorandum will have generally depends on how the rent review clause has been drafted. For example, some leases may specify that the rent review will only be complete once a memorandum has been signed off, meaning that the memorandum...

Adverse possession relates to the means by which a person, who is not, on paper, the legal owner of land, can nonetheless become the legal owner by virtue of possessing the land for a lengthy period of time. Two key factors are involved in claiming adverse possession: uninterrupted factual possession of the land for the requisite period; and an intention to possess the land during that...

I am the landlord of high street commercial premises. These consist of a retail shop with offices above. The retail tenant had a fully repairing and insuring headlease of the whole building. The office tenant has an internal lease of the office space. The head lease has been surrendered because the tenant is insolvent, and the premises are in a poor state of repair. The...

An easement can arise by prescription (i.e. long use) if a trespasser shows 20 years’ use “as of right”: without force, without secrecy and without permission. The Court of Appeal (following an earlier High Court decision) has considered the application of this in the case of Winterburn v Bennett [2016] EWCA Civ 482. It involved a local fish and chip shop’s customers and suppliers using the...

The case of Greenridge Luton One Ltd & Anor v Kempton Investments Ltd [2016] EWHC 91 (Ch) (22 January 2016) gives a stark example of the consequences of providing false information in replies to enquiries. In relation to a sale of office buildings near Luton Airport, the seller (with the help of his solicitor) had indicated in replies to pre-contract enquiries that no disputes existed and...

In Pineport Ltd v Grangeglen Ltd [2016] EWHC 1318 (Ch), the court was prepared to grant relief from forfeiture despite a 14 month delay by the tenant in seeking relief. The court had to consider whether it could be said that the application was made with "reasonable promptitude" taking a six-month period as a guide. The company claimed that the delay arose from a combination of factors...

Most leases of business premises have security of tenure, meaning that the tenant does not necessarily have to leave at lease expiry, unless one of a number of grounds are made out. The grounds are set out in section 30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and, in brief terms, are as follows: The premises are in disrepair (Ground (a)) There are arrears of rent...

WHAT PRE-ACTIONS STEPS ARE NECESSARY? When considering a claim against a professional, perhaps a firm of solicitors or surveyors, potential claimants are required to follow the Professional Negligence Pre-action Protocol before issuing their claim. In practice, this means that as soon as it is known that there is a reasonable chance of a claim against the professional being pursued, a “preliminary notice” must be served, giving general...

Where a lease specifies a date for compliance with an obligation such as the date for service of a break notice or for triggering a rent review, it is important to understand what happens if the date is missed. Where a lease expressly states that time is of the essence (or it can be implied) failure to exercise the right in time will mean that the...