The Stamp Duty Holiday Has Been Extended

March 5th 2021 | residential property
As expected, the chancellor announced a three-month extension to the Stamp Duty holiday. This tax break will now finish at the end of June, at a cost of about £1 billion to the Exchequer. The Stamp Duty nil-rate band will then be increased from £125,000 to £250,000 until the end read more...

What is Chancel Repair Liability?

February 2nd 2021 | residential property
This is a financial burden, falling on owners of certain properties built within an area where the property lies within a parish containing a medieval church built before 1536. This came about following the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII when the rectories acquired by monasteries came into lay ownership. read more...

Buying a House with Solar Panels? Here's What You Need to Know...

January 26th 2021 | residential property
If you’re buying a house with solar panels, you do need to be aware of certain checklists and procedures, in order to avoid a problem later on. There are several reasons why solar panels have proved popular with homeowners: Environmental benefits of using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels Cheap read more...

EWS1 Form Only Necessary for Buildings with Cladding

December 3rd 2020 | residential property
The EWS1 form was designed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (“RICS”) in December 2019 to allow building owners to confirm that an external wall system on a residential building had been assessed for safety by a suitable expert. When the EThe EWS1 form was designed by the Royal read more...

Converting Commercial Property to Residential

October 13th 2020 | commercial property
Under the terms of the General Permitted Development Order (GDPO) in 2015, an owner of commercial property may be able to convert that to residential property without specific planning permission.  This means it is entitled to do so under the terms of the GDPO.  It is, however, important to understand read more...

Monitor Your Property – Protect Yourself Against Fraud

June 4th 2020 | residential property
Currently, more than 85% of land in England and Wales is registered at the Land Registry. The Land Registry is working hard to encourage landowners to register their land, and has committed to registering 100% of land in England & Wales by 2030. While this will assist in establishing ownership read more...

When is a Licence Not a Licence … When it’s a Lease!

May 21st 2020 | commercial property
Short term tenants of commercial premises may sometimes be allowed occupation under the terms of a licence, or even a tenancy at will.  This is an informal way of granting occupation of whole or part of a commercial property, usually for a short period of time, without entering into a read more...

How Do I Exercise A Break Clause?

March 13th 2020 | commercial property
Within the terms of a commercial property lease there is sometimes an opportunity to prematurely determine a lease term before it has come to its contractual end.  This is known as a “break clause” or “early termination provision”. The terms of the break clause within the lease will determine how read more...

Code for Leasing Business Premises updated by RICS

March 5th 2020 | commercial property
In February 2020, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (“RICS”) launched the Code for leasing business premises in England and Wales, which will officially come into effect on 1st September 2020 (“Lease Code 2020”). The Lease Code 2020 will replace the existing 2007 Code for leasing business premises, which was read more...

Commercial Property: Bank of Mum and Dad?

February 13th 2020 | commercial property
There is perhaps a striking similarity between supporting one’s offspring for a lifestyle they cannot afford and being a tenant of commercial premises.  Frequently commercial leases oblige the tenant to be responsible for certain costs and outgoings on the property.  Obvious provisions such as paying annual rent and a contribution read more...

Three is not Always a Crowd for a Groupie

December 4th 2019 | commercial property
Whereas it is not unusual for a commercial lease to contain provisions dealing with underletting, is an underlease always required when you are sharing occupation of a commercial building, or considering letting a tenant share occupation of a building you may own?  The answer is not necessarily.  It is quite read more...

Young Professionals Networking Event

November 27th 2019 | social
Allan Janes host the next Young Professionals meet-up on Thursday 5th December at The Mad Squirrel in High Wycombe. This event is an amazing opportunity to get to know your local professionals in an informal setting over a pint (or two!). If you are interested in attending or know of read more...

Thinking of Breaking Up?

November 12th 2019 | commercial property
A relationship between a landlord and a tenant is (usually) governed by a commercial lease which the parties have entered into at the same time as the tenant takes occupation of the property.  Such commercial relationships are, hopefully, usually harmonious.  But what happens when one party wants to end the read more...

Side Letter Leggings or Full Denim Deed?

October 29th 2019 | commercial property
For those of you who are fashionista’s of Vivienne Westwood’s global empire I imagine that as a landlord one could only dream of the prestige of being one or more of her landlords (consider one’s image daaaahrling) and the unimaginative wealth of interest it would generate in the property investment read more...

Do I Need a Commercial Lease?

October 24th 2019 | commercial property
Although the risks of not having a commercial lease in place to formally document a tenant’s occupation is probably more of a risk from the landlord’s perspective there are a number of reasons why both a landlord and a tenant should enter into a formal lease: Certainty of terms – read more...

Brexit Stands as an Unviable Reason to Break a Commercial Lease

July 24th 2019 | commercial property
Landlords – heave a sigh of relief, tenants – look the other way. Following from my earlier article on this subject, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) has announced that it will not be appealing the High Court’s ruling which determined that Brexit would not frustrate its 25 year lease.  Instead, read more...

CMA Finally Launches Investigation Into the Leasehold Housing Market

June 19th 2019 | residential property
The Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) have initiated investigations to look into potential breaches of consumer protection law in the leasehold housing market. Particular concerns raised relate to the mis-selling of leasehold properties, potentially onerous and unfair contract terms pursuant to escalating ground rents; exorbitant service charges, consent and read more...

The Law Society Introduces New Freehold Management Enquiries Form (FME1)

May 22nd 2019 | residential property
The surge in freehold properties subject to estate/service charges (particularly on new developments) have led to the Law Society introducing a new standard form, Freehold Management Enquiries (“FME1”). The form includes standard questions that can be asked when acting for someone who is buying a freehold property that shares services read more...

Another Reason Never to Use Will Writers

April 25th 2019 | wills and probate
I was having Sunday lunch the other day with a relative when they announced that they would like me to witness their Will. Having been in the family now for some seven years I have to say that I was not a little disappointed that we had not been consulted read more...

Can You Break Your Commercial Lease Because of Brexit?

March 27th 2019 | brexit
The short answer is NO – at least, not yet. Here’s why: This very question has just been answered by High Court judge, Mr Justice Smith, in the recent case of Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd & Ors v European Medicines Agency. This case concerns the ongoing battle between the read more...

Informal Oral Contract Costs Construction Company Almost £7 Million

March 18th 2019 | commercial property
Informal oral contracts remain sadly commonplace despite any number of examples of them leading to costly disputes, in one case, a construction company that allowed another to use its name in tendering for jobs ended up losing almost £7 million. One of the company’s senior employees was an acquaintance of read more...
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