This Practice Note explains the procedure for handling commercial service charge disputes including by reference to the mandatory obligations and best practice guidance under the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) professional standard, ‘Service charges in commercial property’ (Service Charge Standard). For guidance on what service a commercial landlord is required to provide and what expenses can then be recovered, see Practice Notes: Commercial service charges—what is the landlord's liability to provide the service? and Commercial service charges—what expenses can the landlord recover? Service charge recovery—commercial versus residential Service charges serve the same purpose in commercial property as they do in residential property—that is, they allow a landlord to provide services to repair and maintain a property and recover the costs of so doing from a tenant. However, whilst residential service charges are subject to extensive legislation (see Residential—statutory limitations on recovery of service charges and administration charges), the only legislation directly relating to commercial service charges is the six month time limit on claiming against a former tenant under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants)

Where a certificate is required to ascertain the service charge, Urban Splash Work Ltd v Ridgway and another [2018] UKUT 32 (LC) establishes that there is no general rule that the provision of certified accounts is, or is not, a condition precedent to liability to pay service charges (or just part of the ‘machinery’ for payment)—it will depend on the wording of the particular lease and there is no principle of general application. A landlord must be careful not to draft for particular circumstances, personal to them, which may render the certification process inoperable once the reversion is transferred. They will then have to sue for recovery of the service charge as they will have no contractual mechanism to recover it (or may be unable to recover it at all, depending on the drafting and the circumstances). There must be specific provision for an obligation to pay on account as it is unlikely that one will be implied. Subject to the wording of the individual lease, if the certificate is said to be conclusive

Repair and improvements A tenant will not generally be expected to pay for the landlord to upgrade or improve its property as opposed to repairing it. The length of a tenant's lease has a bearing on what the tenant can fairly be expected to pay even if the service charge provisions are drawn fairly widely. However, a covenant to provide a service imposes a wider and potentially more onerous obligation than a covenant to repair, and may entitle a landlord to recover costs of work that goes beyond repair. In such cases, it is the cost of providing the service that will form the recoverable service charge, and the distinction between repair and improvement is unlikely to be relevant. See News Analysis: Covenant to provide services goes beyond covenant to repair (Southwark London Borough v Baharier). If the lease requires the landlord to consult tenants before carrying out major works, there can be no recovery of the cost of works carried out without consultation. 'Sweeper' clauses and items not specified in the lease A

A landlord of commercial premises may have an express or an implied obligation to provide services for the benefit of the tenant(s). Express covenants A covenant to provide a service imposes a wider and potentially more onerous obligation than a (mere) covenant to repair, and may (in accordance with the tenant’s obligation to pay service charge) entitle a landlord to recover costs of work going beyond repair. In such cases, it is the cost of providing the service that will form the service charge, and the distinction between repair and improvement is unlikely to be relevant: see News Analysis: Covenant to provide services goes beyond covenant to repair (Southwark London Borough v Baharier). If a landlord fails to act in a timely fashion, it may be unable to recover the full cost of repairs. Where a tenant can show that the eventual costs would or could have been reduced or avoided, they will be able to use this ‘historical neglect’ argument as a defence against a claim for all or part of

This Practice Note is a past looking tracker that records the progress of UK legislation (including Acts and Statutory Instruments in force), published judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and closed consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries in the field of commercial law in the UK during 2026. For commercial developments tracked previously, see: Commercial tracker 2025 [Archived], Commercial tracker 2024 [Archived], Commercial tracker 2023 [Archived] and Commercial tracker 2022 [Archived]. This Practice Note is intended to work alongside and compliment Practice Note: Commercial—horizon scanner, which tracks the progress of future developments, including Bills and Statutory Instruments in progress. When a date has passed within this Horizon Scanner, it is moved to this Practice Note for posterity. This Commercial tracker comprises the following sections: • Legislation: ◦ Acts in force ◦ Statutory instruments in force • Cases: ◦ Supreme Court ◦ Court of Appeal • Other key developments This tracker does not cover developments in the EU, for EU commercial legislative and regulatory developments, see: Trackers (EU Law)—overview. Legislation Legislation

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This commercial tracker tracked the progress of UK and EU legislative proposals and relevant cases on appeal in the Court of Justice of the European Union, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal related to commercial law up to and including June 2023. A new Commercial tracker is available to track developments from 2023 onwards, see Practice Note: Commercial tracker 2023 [Archived]. This tracker is intended to be used to track the progress of legislative proposals and relevant cases on appeal related to commercial law. Legislation: • UK legislation • EU legislation Cases: • Court of Justice of the European Union • Supreme Court • Court of Appeal Legislation UK legislation To track Brexit legislation, see Practice Note: Brexit legislation tracker [Archived]. Legislation Next/last key date Find out more Bills Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill 25 April 2023 House of Commons, first reading. Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill introduced to HoC The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill has been introduced

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This commercial tracker tracks the progress of UK consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries, legislation (including Bills in progress, Acts in force, Statutory Instruments in progress and Statutory Instruments in force) and judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal related to commercial law up to and including September 2023. A new Commercial tracker is available to track developments from 2025 onwards, see: Practice Note: Commercial tracker. For commercial developments tracked previously, see Practice Notea: Commercial tracker 2023 [Archived]Commercial tracker 2022 [Archived]. This Commercial tracker comprises the following sections: • Legislation ◦ Bills in progress ◦ Acts in force ◦ Bills discontinued ◦ Statutory instruments in progress ◦ Statutory instruments in force • Cases: ◦ Supreme Court ◦ Court of Appeal • Consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries This tracker does not cover developments in the EU, for EU commercial legislative and regulatory developments, see: Trackers (EU Law)—overview. Legislation Legislation concerning the UK competition block exemptions and e-privacy

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This commercial tracker tracks the progress of UK legislation (including Bills in progress, Acts in force, Statutory Instruments in progress and Statutory Instruments in force), judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries related to commercial law in 2024. For the latest commercial developments, see Practice Note: Commercial tracker. For commercial developments tracked previously, see: Commercial tracker 2023 [Archived] and Commercial tracker 2022 [Archived]. This Commercial tracker comprises the following sections: • Legislation ◦ Bills in progress ◦ Discontinued Bills ◦ Acts in force ◦ Statutory instruments in progress ◦ Statutory instruments in force • Cases: ◦ Supreme Court ◦ Court of Appeal • Consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries This tracker does not cover developments in the EU, for EU commercial legislative and regulatory developments, see: Trackers (EU Law)—overview. Legislation Legislation concerning the UK competition block exemptions and e-privacy law reform are separately tracked, see Practice Notes: UK block exemptions revision—tracker

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This commercial tracker tracks the progress of UK legislation (including Bills in progress, Acts in force, Statutory Instruments in progress and Statutory Instruments in force), judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries related to commercial law in 2025. For commercial developments tracked previously, see Practice Notes: Commercial tracker 2024 [Archived], Commercial tracker 2023 [Archived] and Commercial tracker 2022 [Archived]. This Commercial tracker comprises the following sections: • Legislation: ◦ Bills in progress ◦ Acts in force ◦ Statutory instruments in progress ◦ Statutory instruments in force • Cases: ◦ Supreme Court ◦ Court of Appeal • Consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries This tracker does not cover developments in the EU, for EU commercial legislative and regulatory developments, see: Trackers (EU Law)—overview. Legislation Legislation concerning the UK competition block exemptions and e-privacy law reform are separately tracked, see Practice Notes: UK block exemptions revision—tracker and UK ePrivacy law reform—tracker. Brexit legislation

Typefaces are a key component of a brand’s identity, using a unique typeface helps a business to distinguish itself from its competitors. Many businesses will select or create a typeface to use across print and digital media to help foster consistency and build a recognisable brand. This Practice Note provides legal and practical advice on fonts and typefaces. It covers the following topics: • Fonts and typefaces—definitions • Fonts and typefaces—intellectual property (IP) rights • Sourcing fonts and typefaces—legal issues, and common licence terms and issues with sourcing fonts and typefaces Fonts and typefaces—definitions The distinction between the terms font and typeface is important from a legal point of view (see section on ‘IP protection’ below) but in practice the terms are often used interchangeably. Typeface A ‘typeface’ is a set of letters, numbers and characters designed with a specific and consistent style resulting in the appearance of the text. Times New Roman is a well-known typeface. In Lish v The Northern Block, the judge described a typeface as ‘a body of individual glyphs

This Practice Note provides guidance on legal issues arising from the commercial use of photographs. Photographs are central to many commercial activities, therefore, businesses must take a careful approach to obtaining and exploiting the relevant rights. This Practice Note covers: • photography and copyright law • sourcing photographs • key issues when negotiating licence agreements • special categories of photographs This Practice Note is written on the basis that a business directly instructs a professional photographer. In many cases, a business will instruct an external agency who, in turn, engages a photographer. The same considerations outlined in this Practice Note will generally apply. See also the government’s Copyright notice: digital images, photographs and the internet. In addition to the intellectual property issues considered in this Practice Note, photographers and others using or otherwise processing photographs will need to ensure they comply with the following, which is not the focus of this Practice Note: • data protection law, to the extent the photograph comprises personal data, see Practice Note: Data protection and the creative industries

This Practice Note addresses issues affecting professional photographers taking photographs of models or other individuals and the businesses that commission, produce, license and use photographs for commercial purposes. It provides information on how UK data protection and privacy law applies and should be navigated in the context of commercial use of photographs in the UK. Commercial use would be reproducing a photograph in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or financial compensation. This includes use in marketing on a business’s website or on its social media platforms. Although some of the same principles may apply, this Practice Note is not intended to cover editorial use of photographs. Press photographers may need to consider additional data protection and privacy issues, such as the ICO data protection and journalism code of practice or rules set out in the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice, and different exemptions may apply to them. Nor does this note cover domestic use for purely personal or household activities. This