Where land is held on a charitable trust it can only be disposed of in accordance with Part 7 of the Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011). A disposition includes: • a conveyance or transfer • the grant of a lease for more than seven years • leases of whatever term granted at a premium • the surrender

Part V of the Housing Act 1985 (HA 1985) provides that a secure tenant of a dwelling-house in England has the right to acquire the freehold of a house or the leasehold of a flat (or a house where the landlord does not own the freehold) according to HA 1985, s 118. HA 1985, s 121 provides that the right to buy cannot be exercised if the tenant is subject to a court order for possession; if the person (or one of the persons) to whom the right to buy belongs has made a bankruptcy application which has not been determined or has a bankruptcy petition pending against him or is an undischarged bankrupt, has made a composition or arrangement with creditors on terms yet to be fulfilled, or is a person in a moratorium

Places of worship are exempt from rates under paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (LGFA 1988), which provides: ‘…11 (1) A hereditament is exempt to the extent that it consists of any of the following— (a) a place of public religious worship which belongs to the Church of England or the Church in Wales (within the meaning of the Welsh Church Act 1914  or is for the time being certified as required by law as a place of religious worship; [(a) a place of public religious

HMRC has confirmed that a refund of member contributions payable on a member’s death under the scheme rules is a defined benefit payable as a defined benefits lump sum death benefit. HMRC has further confirmed that the tax rules do not set any conditions on who can be paid a defined benefits lump sum death benefit. However the rules of the pension scheme may set limits on who it will pay this type of benefit to. HMRC’s statement in IHTM17055 (that ‘refunds of the member’s contributions are assets of the estate as the scheme member

It is standard for a commercial tenancy agreement to contain provision as to a deposit, as security for the landlord against any breaches of covenant (often, in particular, dilapidations). Parties will often enter into a rent deposit deed which will govern how the deposit is to be held, what deductions can be made from it and often make provision as to any interest earned on the deposit. Alternatively these provisions may be contained in the lease itself, though a separate rent deed facilitates assignment of the lease. There are no specific statutory provisions governing the taking and holding of a commercial rent deposit and the parties are free within the bounds of ordinary contract law to agree such terms as they wish in the rent deposit deed as to interest. A well-drafted rent deposit deed will ordinarily

This Q&A raises the extent of a landlord’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) where a tenant has a disability. Under EqA 2010, a person has a disability where they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities (EqA 2010, s 6(1)). EqA 2010 imposes a duty upon the controller of let premises and premises to be let (EqA 2010, s 36(1)), that is to say it applies to a person who has granted a tenancy and also to a person who has premises which are available for that purpose. In each case, a controller is the landlord and any person who manages the premises (EqA 2010, s 36(2), (3)). The duty is one to make reasonable

Under Section 97 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the borrower is entitled to know how much they have to pay in order to clear the debt.

Under the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), most types of lotteries are illegal. A lottery can only be lawfully operated under a lottery operating licence unless it falls within one of the limited exceptions detailed in GA 2005. See Practice Note: Prize promotions explains that the three elements of a ‘simple’ lottery are: • the requirement to pay to participate • the allocation of a prize, and • such allocation is made by a process which relies wholly on chance The elements of a ‘complex’ lottery are: • the requirement to pay to participate • the allocation of a prize • such allocation is made by a series of processes, and • the first of those processes relies wholly on chance If any one of these elements (in either a simple or complex lottery) is absent, then the promotion falls outside the scope of the lottery prohibition. One

This Q&A is relevant to a tenancy which has not yet been granted, or to a tenancy which was granted after 28 February 1997 and accordingly will automatically become an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) if it falls within the relevant provisions of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988). Does the lease qualify as a long tenancy under the leasehold enfranchisement provisions? The relevant leasehold enfranchisement provisions will depend on whether the lease is for a flat or a house. House If a house, the relevant leasehold enfranchisement provisions are within the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (LRA 1967). Section 3(4) states that: 'Where a tenancy is or has been granted for a term of years certain not exceeding twenty-one years, but with a covenant or obligation for renewal without payment of a

Where there is a Will which appoints executors, those personal representatives (PRs) derive their office from the Will as from the date of the deceased's death and the grant of probate confirms their authority to act. For further guidance, see Practice Note: Personal representatives—authority prior to grant of representation. The duty of PRs to prepare and keep estate accounts is contained in section 25 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925). While AEA 1925, s 25 states that the PRs are under a duty to the court to keep accounts and make these available for inspection (along with an inventory if required), the accepted position is that the PRs first owe this duty to the residuary

This Q&A examines when an employer should make clear its intention to run a Polkey argument in an unfair dismissal claim, ie to argue that even if the dismissal procedure followed by the employer was unfair, the employee would have been dismissed fairly in any event. An employer may want to run such an argument where: • it accepts that there were procedural failings in the dismissal process but wishes the tribunal to award reduced or no compensation to take into account that the procedural shortcomings did not affect the outcome, ie that even if a fair procedure had been followed the employee would still have been dismissed • it does not accept that there were procedural failings in the dismissal process, but wishes to run the above argument in the alternative, ie as a fall-back position in order to minimise any compensation awarded to the employee in the event that the employment tribunal finds that there was procedural unfairness In addressing the question

Family Procedure Rules 2010, PD 30A, para 4.22 provides: ‘In most cases, applications for permission to appeal will be determined without the court requesting— (a) submissions from; or (b) if there is an oral hearing, attendance by the respondent.’ In relation to the costs of an application for permission to appeal, FPR 2010, PD 30A, para 4.23 provides that where the court does not request submissions from or attendance by the respondent, costs will not normally be allowed to a respondent who volunteers submissions or attendance and FPR 2010, PD 30A, para 4.24 states that where the court does request submissions from, or attendance by, the respondent, the court will normally allow the costs of the respondent if the application for permission is refused. The suggestion therefore is that if submissions from, or attendance by, a respondent in relation to an application for permission are required by the court, it will be