Receipt of personal injury damages by a claimant, unless placed in trust, will affect assessable capital and income as regards means-tested benefits. The capital threshold for most means-tested benefits is £6,000, with an upper limit of £16,000. This figure includes not only the claimant's capital, but also that of a spouse or civil partner or someone with whom they live as such. Between £6,000 and £16,000, the claimant partially loses benefits on a sliding scale. It is important

Whether a piece of land (B) transferred from a larger piece of land (A) retains the lawful use of A will depend on the circumstances. It will depend on the terms of any planning permission which authorises the use of A, for example, it could require that the area which now forms B is used for a purpose other than residential use/the original consented use. It will also depend on whether all of A was, before the transfer, considered to constitute one planning unit, the lawful use(s) of that planning unit, and

Planning obligations under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are contractual terms governed by the wording of the obligation. Therefore you need to look at the obligation's precise clauses to see what is required. It would be a poorly worded

The JCT Design & Build Contract 2011 defines ‘Development Control Requirements’ as 'any statutory provisions and any decision of a relevant authority thereunder which control the right to develop the site'. A planning permission is a decision of the relevant local authority

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (the Use Classes Order), SI 1987/764 is an order made pursuant to section 55(2)(f) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990). It puts uses of land and buildings into broad categories set out in the schedule of the Use Classes Order. Class B8 is described in the Use Classes Order as ‘Use for storage or as a distribution centre’. When assessing the use of the land/building for the purpose of the Use Classes Order, the primary use of the land/building must be considered. The Use Classes Order, SI 1987/764, art 3(3) provides that a use which is included in

Easements An easement is an incorporeal right enjoyed by the owner of a legal estate (dominant tenement) over land in the ownership of another person (servient tenement) that binds successors in title. An easement has four essential characteristics: • there must be a dominant and a servient tenement • the easement must accommodate the dominant tenement • the dominant and servient owners must be different persons • the easement must be capable of forming the subject matter of a grant For more information on these features see Practice Note: Easements—nature and characteristics. Benefit and burden The benefit and burden principle derives from Halsall v Brizell where it was held that a positive covenant could be enforced against a party who uses and enjoys the corresponding benefit. This serves as an important exception to the rule that the burden of a positive

The beneficiary of a nil rate band (NRB) discretionary trust will generally be entitled to an accounting in relation to the estate assets that are comprised in that trust, including how the available nil rate band was calculated and the basis on which those assets were apportioned to it. This information could be contained in the first set of trust accounts. However, the beneficiary is likely to be entitled to see the underlying documents that justify those accounts as well. The beneficiary will not generally be entitled to an accounting of the other assets in the estate, unless in some way it had a bearing on the composition of the assets in the NRB discretionary trust. It was held by the Privy Council in the case

Do power companies’ rights under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989 apply to private roads? Section 10 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989 (EA 1989) empower certain licence holders to carry out specified activities for a purpose connected with the carrying on of the activities which they are authorised by their licence to carry on, including installing electric lines. EA 1989, Sch 4, para 1(1)(b) adds that: ‘nothing in this sub-paragraph shall empower a licence holder to lay down or place any electric line or electrical plant into, through or against any building, or in any land not dedicated to the public use’. However, EA 1989, Sch 4, para 1(2) states that: ‘the

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed you are referring to a general power of attorney under the Powers of attorney Act 1971. In conducting our research we have excluded any consideration of the company being under a sole directorship/sole shareholder. A company is a distinct legal entity in its own right. It is owned by its members

Company granting power of attorney Whether a company (or any other body corporate) can grant a power of attorney will depend on its constitution. Article 5(1)(b) of the Model Articles for Private Companies Limited by Shares, for instance, expressly permits the board of directors to delegate any of its powers under the articles to such persons, including attorneys, as it thinks fit. For further explanation, see Q&A: Is it possible to structure a single power of attorney to be granted by several different donor companies? The obvious example of a company granting a power of attorney is a seller in a private M&A transaction granting the buyer a power of attorney to the buyer (see Precedent: Power of attorney-private M&A purchase—share rights—corporate seller), so as to enable the buyer to exercise (vote) the rights attaching to the sale shares (in the target company) for the period in-between completion and the buyer’s name

We refer you to the below commentary from Butterworths Personal Injury Litigation Service at 26 Assignment of CFAs > Death of a litigation friend which considers whether a new conditional fee arrangement (CFA) would be required in situation in which a litigation friend dies: 'My view is that a fresh Conditional Fee Agreement is not necessary. The true party has been the same throughout and the solicitors have been the same throughout and it is clearly a pre-April 2013 Conditional Fee Agreement. The litigation friend is just that and is not a party to the litigation. All that needs to happen is that the new litigation friend be formally advised of their

Prescription is the acquisition of an easement through long enjoyment or use—the law presumes the right was lawfully granted. There are three ways of acquiring an easement by prescription: • at common law • by lost modern grant • under the Prescription Act 1832 In each case, the claimant must show that it has enjoyed the right claimed for a full period of 20 years ‘as of right’, and not as a result of force, secrecy or permission of the servient owner. Extent of the right of way Where a right of way is acquired by prescription, the extent of the right is measured by the extent of the user. The extent of the right acquired must relate to what has, in fact, been enjoyed. The