London is still considered the world’s pre-eminent financial centre, and is one of the most attractive international cities for foreign investment. One of the reasons for this is the high regard that the international business community has for the principles of the English legal system and the fairness of the English Courts.

We understand that dealing with your family affairs requires more than just sound advice and technical excellence. We invest the time to get to know our clients’ circumstances, needs and preferences to deliver commercially informed and practical results for you.

In an attempt to crackdown on foreign criminals using property to launder money, the UK government has, for a number of years, attempted to introduce a register of those overseas entities which hold UK property.

A receiver is an individual (or those acting jointly) appointed by a creditor that holds a charge over the assets of a debtor to take custody of the charged assets, manage those assets and receive the income from them. Usually, a receiver will also have the power to sell the assets and to apply the proceeds of sale in satisfaction of the secured debt.

In May 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld the 2018 High Court decision to quash a local authority’s registration of land as a town or village green. The Court of Appeal held that the adopted core strategy policies of the local authority gave rise to a trigger event that precluded the local authority from registering the land as a town or village green.

Usually a ransom strip is a strip of land lying between an adopted highway with public rights of way and a property or land and where crossing that land or laying services beneath that land could represent a trespass on the part of the owner of the property cut off from the Highway by the ransom strip.

Freehold land typically encompasses all the land below and above it (divided vertically), which in practice means that standard freeholds do not cross or overlap. A flying freehold is a freehold property which overhangs or projects (flies) above or below an adjoining freehold property.

We have lived with the NPPF since 2012. Generally welcomed by the development industry, will the changes to the NPPF, now embodied in the 2018 framework, going to make a material difference in addressing housing delivery problems?

This update comments on the latest developments including the shortening of filing and payment window to 14 days from the effective date, what is a “major interest”?, bare trusts and first time buyer’s relief and the Supreme Court decision in Project Blue.

The significance of the NPPF was as much the fact that it put together in one place all of central government’s planning policies. It is not perfect, but some of those imperfections stem from the fact that voters are wedded to concepts such as the Green Belt which add to the problems of housing delivery in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Modular construction is a method of building in ‘module’ sections from an off-site facility. The prefabricated parts are transported to and constructed on site and the finished product is referred to as ‘prefab’ or, more recently, modular housing.

This update comments on the latest SDLT and ATED developments including first time buyer’s relief, higher rates (or 3% surcharge) for additional dwellings (HRAD), SDLT Manual updated to incorporate guidance on HRAD...

The collapse of Carillion will cause a great deal of disruption and financial uncertainty.  Those unfortunate enough to be affected by these events will require swift expert advice.

The Government has addressed issues surrounding the continued failure to deliver an adequate supply of new housing. While there is a realistic prospect of boosting supply there is also a failure to address some of the fundamental problems.

Property title fraud is becoming an increasing modern problem. Companies can be impersonated as well as individuals and both residential and commercial properties can be targeted.

The Housing & Planning Act provides little certainty as to exactly what constitutes a rogue landlord and instead grants the Secretary of State powers to create and impose secondary legislation.

Five years ago Regional Spatial Plans were abolished. History seems to be repeating itself, the issue now being the benchmark for deciding whether a Neighbourhood Plan is (or is not) “out of date”.

HMRC’s guidance on the higher rate, originally published in March 2016, was updated in November 2016. Those who have not yet read the updated guidance are advised to do so.

From 1 December 2016 new criminal sanctions have been introduced to deter “rogue” landlords.

In this note, we consider some of the legal issues (and related commercial questions) which may arise for clients operating within the Real Estate and Construction sectors, following Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

The Autumn Statement, presented by the Chancellor on 25 November 2015, included some significant announcements on SDLT on which we commented previously. 

Recent Analysis of the County Court on the Construction of Buildings, Use of Land and Prevention of Nuisance.

On 28th December 2015 the government published a consultation document on the proposal, previously announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement on 25th November 2015 ...